The US president has insisted that he will succeed in his mediation efforts.
The leaders of Russia and Ukraine are ready to make a peace deal, US President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday. He has been trying to broker a ceasefire between the two neighbors since February.
A reporter asked Trump on Air Force One about his communication with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. “I think he’s ready to make a deal. And I think that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin is ready to make a deal,” Trump said. He declined to go into specifics but added that the US was having “a lot of good conversations about Ukraine and Russia.”
“We like to see [the conflict] stopped as soon as possible because thousands of people have been killed in a week,” Trump said. “Europe has not been successful in dealing with President Putin, but I think I will be successful.”
Trump made his comments as Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, travelled to Washington, where he reportedly met with America’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. The sides mostly continued discussing steps to normalize bilateral relations frozen by the Biden administration in 2022, Dmitriev told reporters on Thursday evening. He noted the “positive dynamic” of the talks, adding that more meetings need to take place to resolve the differences.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, told Fox Business on Wednesday that Trump has been “frustrated” with both Putin and Zelensky. He remained optimistic about the negotiations, saying that the sides were “on the precipice” of a comprehensive ceasefire.
Moscow has accused Kiev of multiple violations of an energy truce brokered by Trump last month. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has struck fuel depots, gas facilities, and the electrical grid, despite promising to respect a 30-day pause on such attacks. Kiev has claimed that Russia was breaching the same agreement.
Russia has maintained that any long-term settlement would be viable only if the US and Ukraine address the root causes of the conflict. Moscow demands that Kiev abandon its plans to join NATO and recognize Crimea and four other former Ukrainian regions as Russian territory.
Good work Donald.
Shame on the media for their lies and negative narrative.
Bull****. They have offered Russia an empty document, minus the main points of concern Russia has raised. This is simply an attempt to shift blame, when the whole thing fails, which is already inherently obvious. Just look at Kiev’s failure, to uphold the ceasefire on energy infrastructure. Claiming they are near an agreement is a fiction.
And Putin doesn’t recognize the little green goblin as the legitimate leader of Ukraine. His term expired in May of last year. So it’s a double bull**** from me.
Exactly, power should have been transferred to the leader of the house, in Ukraine.