Volodymyr Zelensky surprised the U.S. President by being the more difficult of the two principals to negotiate with in the Ukraine War talks, Donald Trump said, expressing hope for talks for the sake of the “humanity” of those being killed.
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his hope there is still a deal to be achieved to bring peace to the Ukraine War in Oval Office remarks that follow days of comments from key players that clearly suggest talks are on the brink of collapse. While Russia and Ukraine daily accuse each other of undermining the process, and overnight Russia has launched a major assault on Kyiv with at least eight dead in the air-raid, President Trump named Ukraine’s Zelensky for dragging his heels on peace.
On Tuesday, President Zelensky dismissed a compromise peace where Russia would be able to keep Crimea in return for handing back several Ukrainian provinces and ending the fighting, stating he was sticking to his maximalist absolute victory policy. Zelensky said, as reported: “There is nothing to talk about – it is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people”.
President Trump had already responded to these words in a social media post, reminding the Ukrainian that “Crimea was lost years ago” during the Obama era and that his remarks were “very harmful to the peace negotiations”. Following up in the Oval Office on Wednesday evening as he spoke with reporters while signing executive orders, the U.S. President remarked: “I will say I think that Russia is ready, and a lot of people said Russia wanted to go for the whole thing, I think we have a deal with Russia.
“We have to get a deal with Zelensky. I thought it might be easier to get a deal with Zelensky but so far it has been harder, but that’s OK, it’s alright. But I think we have a deal with both, I hope they do it… this is about a lot of humanity.”
Underlining the reasons behind his motivation to get a deal quickly to save human life, President Trump said of Zelensky: “I just hope he gets get this thing solved, because we’re losing about… 5,000 soldiers being killed every week, approximately… they’re Russian and Ukrainian, they’re not Americans. They’re Russian but they’re people, they are human beings they have families.
“They wave goodbye to their sons and they get a call that their son is no longer there… I get the pictures, the satellite pictures, I’ve never seen anything like it. The fields after some of these battles, it’s horrible, for nothing.”
Peace talks, coming both in the form of rapprochement between the U.S. and Russia itself to facilitate further negotiations and also discussions with the combatant nations and Ukraine’s European backers have now been ongoing for months and there are clear signs that short of a breakthrough, the U.S. may be ready to walk away.
Last week Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticised the endless but unproductive meetings on the Ukraine War peace process, implying he would no longer attend them unless they promised to be purposeful. If there wasn’t progress in days, he said almost a week ago, then “the President’s probably at a point where he’s going to say ‘well, we’re done’.”, said Rubio.
He said: “If they’re serious about peace, either side or both, then we’re going to help… if it’s just a meeting to have another meeting, we’ll figure out whether that will happen… I’m wiling to come myself if the meeting is going to be productive.”
Vice President JD Vance made similar remarks this Wednesday, when he said: “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’, or for the United States to walk away from this process”.
One element of a U.S.-Russian rapprochement that has yet to take place is the frequently discussed prospect of an in-person meeting between President Trump and his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin. Trump referred to this briefly in his Oval Office remarks when asked, saying he believed this meeting would take place soon but not in Saudi Arabia, where many Ukraine War discussions have been hosted.
President Trump said: “I will be meeting with him… [in Saudi] It’s possible but most likely not. I think we’ll meet with him shortly thereafter”.
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