Zelensky says he warned Trump that Putin is 'bluffing'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday he hopes talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin this week will centre on a ceasefire, and that he warned Trump that Putin was "bluffing" about his desire to end the war.

"I told the U.S. president and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing," he said at a joint briefing in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

"He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine." Zelenskiy added that he wanted a three-leader meeting, saying no talks about Ukraine should exclude Kyiv.