Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia are “very close to a deal” on ending the bloody three-year war.
The US President called for the two nations to finish their “very high level talks” following his long-standing pressure on Ukraine to make concessions to end the conflict. Although Ukraine remains under siege, Mr Trump believes the leaders of it and Russia have had productive meetings and are close to a resolution.
Writing on his Truth Social site tonight, the world leader said: “They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’. Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war.”
Mr Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, had made a visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. In an interview published earlier in the day, Mr Trump had told reporters: “Crimea will stay with Russia.”
The President, 78, posted on Truth Social shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral. It is a significant update as, in recent months, progress on ending the three-year war has been slow.
And, just as Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine this week, killing three people with a drone strike on an apartment building in a southeastern city, Mr Trump demanded on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “IMMEDIATELY” sign a long-delayed agreement giving the United States access to his nation’s mineral resources.
When asked by reporters, Mr Zelensky said he didn’t want to comment on Mr Trump’s statement but repeated, as he has many times during the war, that recognising occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian is a red line for his country.
Mr Trump’s previous statement on Friday reads in full: “Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time. It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while President Barack Obama was in office, years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.
Critics have noted the President’s previous claims of imminent breakthroughs have failed to come to fruition. However, on this occasion, the Republican stressed he “just wants to do it as fast as possible,” insisting there is no deadline for the conclusion of the talks which began on Friday.
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