US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, a day after holding a two-and-a-half-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Following the meeting, Trump described his discussion with Zelenskyy as “very interesting and cordial” in a post on Truth Social, adding that he had urged both Zelenskyy and Putin to bring an end to the ongoing conflict.
“The meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine was very interesting and cordial, but I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a deal!” Trump wrote.
The US President further stated that both sides should “stop where they are” and “claim victory”.
“They should stop where they are. Let both claim victory, let history decide! No more shooting, no more death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent. This is a war that would have never started if I were President. Thousands of people being slaughtered each and every week — no more, go home to your families in peace!” he added.
Speaking to reporters before the bilateral meeting, Trump appeared to move away from his earlier position of supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, stating that he would prefer the country not to need them.
“We are going to be talking about Tomahawks, and would much rather have them not need Tomahawks. Would much rather have the war be over, to be honest. We are in it to get the war over,” he said.
Trump stressed that the United States required the missiles for its own national security.
“We need Tomahawks. And we need a lot of other things that we’ve been sending over the last four years to Ukraine,” he noted.
During the meeting, President Zelenskyy reiterated his request for Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of around 2,500 kilometres and could reach targets deep inside Russia.
“Ukraine has thousands of our production drones, but we don’t have Tomahawks. That’s why we need Tomahawks,” Zelenskyy said.
The two leaders also differed in their assessment of Putin’s intentions. Trump asserted that the Russian President “wants to end the war,” while Zelenskyy countered that “Putin doesn’t want” to end it.
Following his phone conversation with Putin on Thursday, Trump said that “great progress was made during today’s telephone conversation” and announced that he plans to meet the Russian leader in Budapest, Hungary.
Also Read : Afghan Cricket players among 8 dead in Pak air strike
He also revealed that a delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet next week with Russian officials to prepare for a second Trump-Putin meeting in three months.
Trump’s previous summit with Putin in Alaska in August concluded without any agreement, after which he had taken a tougher stance toward Moscow.
Fresh from brokering a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, Trump has now turned his focus back to the Ukraine War.
When asked if Putin was simply trying to buy time, Trump replied that he had “been played by the best of them” but insisted he still “came out really well.”
“I’m pretty good at this stuff. I think that he wants to make a deal. I made eight of them. I’m going to make a ninth,” Trump said.
Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks, criticised the President’s approach, saying Trump “failed to deliver today on providing any support for Ukraine.”
“This isn’t Trump bringing peace through strength; this is weakness through appeasement,” Meeks said.
Follow us
