US President Donald Trump has said that he is not going to waste time on a summit with the Russian leader anytime soon unless he considers ending the war in Ukraine.
This comes just two days after the Friday summit in Budapest was cancelled unilaterally by Trump, for unknown reasons. While boarding Air Force One, Trump said, "I'm going to have to know that we're going to make a deal. I'm not going to be wasting my time.”
He said, "I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing," adding, "I thought this would have gotten done before peace in the Middle East."
He expressed frustration and disappointment with the way things were unfolding in the Ukraine war. Russian presidential nominee for the economic and investment summit talks with foreign countries, Kirill Dmitriev, met with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday to discuss the economic cooperation opportunities between the two nations.
Dmitriev said during an interview on Saturday that a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine was within reach after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he backed Trump's proposal to make the current frontline the basis for negotiations with Russia.
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He said, “I believe Russia and the US and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution.”
"It's a big move by President Zelenskyy to already acknowledge that it's about battle lines. You know, his previous position was that Russia should leave completely, so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out."
His visit to the US comes a day after the United States announced fresh sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday. Putin, while admitting the severity of the latest sanctions, insisted they were not something his country was bothered about at the moment.
He added that the sanctions were an "unfriendly act" that "does not strengthen Russia-US relations, which have only just begun to recover."
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