US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine must reach an agreement to end the conflict with Russia because “Russia is a very powerful country and they are not,” after a summit with President Vladimir Putin that failed to produce a ceasefire.
Mr Trump also changed his position, saying he agreed with Mr Putin that the effective way to end the war was through a direct move to a peace deal, not just a ceasefire as Ukraine and its European allies, who still receive US support, are pushing for.
Mr Trump's comments came after he met Mr Putin in Alaska on Friday for nearly three hours. It was the first summit between the US and Russia since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Everyone has come to the conclusion that the most effective way to end the terrible war between Russia and Ukraine is to directly work on a peace agreement, not just a cease-fire agreement that often fails to hold,” Mr. Trump wrote in Truth Social.
Analysts estimate that the war, the deadliest in Europe in eighty years, has left more than a million people dead or wounded on both sides, including thousands of civilians, mostly of Ukrainian origin.
Mr Trump said he would hold talks at the White House on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding: “If all goes well, we will arrange a meeting with President Putin. It could save the lives of millions of people.”
Mr Zelensky said after a lengthy conversation with Mr Trump following the Alaska summit that Ukraine was ready for constructive cooperation and supported the idea of a trilateral meeting.
“Ukraine confirms its readiness to make every effort to achieve peace,” he wrote on social media.
However, Putin had not mentioned the meeting with Mr Zelensky earlier in his interviews with journalists. Russia's state news agency TASS, citing Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, reported that the possibility of a trilateral summit involving Mr Zelensky had not been discussed.
Security guarantees
In a post-summit interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Mr. Trump indicated that he and Putin had discussed a possible territorial swap and security guarantees for Ukraine.
“I think those are the things that we've been negotiating and generally agreeing on,” Mr. Trump said.
“I think we are quite close to an agreement,” he added, noting: “Ukraine has to agree to this. They might say 'no.'”
Asked by Hannity what advice he would give Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Trump replied: “We need to make a deal.”
“Listen, Russia is a very powerful country, and they are not. They are great soldiers,” he added.
Mr Zelensky has repeatedly stressed the importance of security guarantees for Kyiv as part of any agreement to prevent another Russian invasion in the future.
“We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in ensuring the security of Ukraine,” he said after a telephone conversation with Mr. Trump.
Before the summit, Mr Trump set a goal of reaching a ceasefire in the conflict and said he would not be satisfied without it.
Mr Putin showed no change in Russia's long-standing position on the war, but said he agreed with Mr Trump that Ukraine's security must be “ensured”.
“We are ready to work on this. We hope that the understanding reached will help us get closer to this goal and open the way to peace in Ukraine,” Putin said in a brief speech to the press after the summit, where neither leader took questions.
He added: “We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will take this constructively and will not create any obstacles. They will not try to disrupt the emerging progress with provocations or behind-the-scenes intrigues.”
For Putin, the mere fact of meeting the US president in person was a diplomatic victory. The Kremlin leader has been isolated by Western leaders since the start of the war and just a week ago faced the threat of new sanctions from Trump.
“1-0 in favor of Putin”
Some commentators, especially
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
