ALASKA: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should agree a deal to end the war with Russia because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”, after holding a summit with President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield a ceasefire.
In a major shift, Trump also said he had agreed with Putin that the best way to end the war was to go straight to a peace settlement – not via a ceasefire, as Ukraine and its European allies, until now with US support, have been demanding.
Trump’s comments came after he met Putin for nearly three hours in Alaska on Friday at the first US-Russia summit since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump posted on Truth social.
The war – the deadliest in Europe for 80 years – has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts.
Trump said he would hold talks at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, adding: “If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”
Zelenskiy said after a lengthy conversation with Trump following the Alaska summit that Ukraine was ready for constructive cooperation, and he supported the idea of a trilateral meeting.
“Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,” he wrote on social media.
But Putin made no mention of meeting Zelenskiy when speaking to reporters earlier. Russian state news agency TASS quoted Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov as saying the possibility of a three-way summit including Zelenskiy had not been discussed.
In a post-summit interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump signaled that he and Putin had discussed potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.
“I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on,” Trump said.
“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he said, adding: “Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”
When asked by Hannity what he would advise Zelenskiy, Trump said: “Gotta make a deal.”
“Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not. They’re great soldiers,” he added.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly underlined the importance of security guarantees for Kyiv as part of any deal, to deter Russia from launching a new invasion at some point in the future.
“We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security,” he said after his call with Trump.
Before the summit, Trump had set the goal of agreeing on a ceasefire in the war and said he would not be happy without it.
Putin signaled no movement in Russia’s long-held positions on the war, but said he agreed with Trump that Ukraine’s security must be “ensured”.
