United States President Donald Trump, while briefing the press along with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, expressed confidence of achieving truce between warring neighbours Ukraine and Russia.
“The war (Russia-Ukraine) is going to end. When it ends, I can’t tell you but the war is going to end and this gentleman wants it to end and Vladimir Putin wants it to end,” he told reporters.
Trump met Zelenskyy at the White House — three days after he held the high-stake summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Trump is also scheduled to meet a delegation of top European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Trump, while briefing the press along with Zelenskyy, credited himself for “ending six wars” since the onset of his presidency. This includes the conflict between “India-Pakistan”, Trump said, as he reiterated the claim of mediating the truce between the two South Asian neighbours despite New Delhi’s repeated denial.
“You take a look at some of these wars, you go to Africa and take a look at that. Rawanda and the Congo – that has been going on for 31 years. We have done a total of 6, not including the fact that we totally obliterated the future nuclear capability of Iran…I feel confident that we are going to get this (Russia-Ukraine) war off,” Trump said.
Trump To Call Putin
Following his meeting with Zelenskyy and the European leaders, Trump plans to dial Putin. He aims to set up a trilateral meeting between him, Putin and Zelenskyy, with the goal to achieve “lasting peace” between Russia and Ukraine.
“We may or may not have a trilat. If we don’t have a trilat, then the fighting continues, and if we do, we have a good chance — I think if we have a trilat, there’s a good chance of maybe ending it,” Trump said.
Zelenskyy, in response to media queries, said “We are ready for a trilateral,” but added that his country still needs support from both the US and European allies.
The tone of conversation between Zelenskyy and Trump appeared cordial, as against their February interaction at the Oval office when both leaders had exchanged heated jibes.
Zelenskyy, this time time, wore a jacket while arriving at the White House, as compared to the war fatigues he had donned last time — which was labelled as an act of disrespect by Trump’s allies.
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