Trump will ‘probably’ meet Putin before the end of the month
After talks between US and Russian envoys, Donald Trump said he was ‘more confident’ of a peace deal but backed demands for an election, increasing fears a Kremlin friendly leader would be installed.
Donald Trump has said he will “probably” meet Vladimir Putin before the end of the month, saying he was more confident of a deal to end the Ukraine war after talks between US and Russian envoys in Saudi Arabia.
But Mr Trump also backed demands for a Ukrainian presidential election, which has increased concerns a Russian-friendly president would be installed instead of Volodymyr Zelensky.
At the talks in Riyadh, Russia and the United States agreed to establish high level teams to negotiate a path to ending the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Washington also noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point” after the first official talks since the invasion.
Amid fears that Washington would make serious concessions to Moscow, Mr Trump told reporters the demand for a Ukrainian presidential election “came from me”.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach the President said: “We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4 per cent approval rating, and where a country has been blown to smithereens …
“If Ukraine wants a seat at the table, wouldn’t the people have to say it has been a long time since they had an election?
“That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.”
He said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the talks in Riyadh, adding: “They were very good. Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism.” “I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well,” he added, chiding Ukraine for complaining it had been cut out of discussions.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has slammed his nation’s exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted more than four hours.
“I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Mr Trump told reporters when asked what he would say to Ukrainians who feel “betrayed.”
“Today I heard, oh, well, we weren’t invited. Well, you’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” he said.
Some European leaders fear Washington will make major concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement.
AFP
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