The United States said on Thursday that it remains committed to peace talks between Ukraine and Russia after President Donald Trump likened the war – begun when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory – to a kids’ brawl, saying “let them fight.”
“President [Trump] wants to see those direct talks happen,” State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent during a daily briefing when pressed about Trump’s comments.
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Earlier on Thursday in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said that it might be better if Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before peace prevails, as Germany’s new chancellor appealed to him as the “key person in the world” who could stop Russian leader Vladimir Putin from causing more bloodshed by pressuring him.
Trump likened the war to a fight between children who hate each other, saying that he communicated the same to Putin in a call.
Trump didn’t say how Putin responded to the analogy, but revealed that the Russian strongman shared plans to respond to Ukrainian operations over the past week targeting bombers deep inside Russia.
When asked by Kyiv Post whether there was a concern that Russia might deem Trump’s comments as a greenlight to continue attacking Ukraine, State Department’s Pigott said: “The President [Trump] has been clear from the beginning that he wants to see this conflict come to an end.”
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Trump, Pigott added, “has been clear from the beginning that his driver, his motivation here is to end the bloodshed, to end the carnage, to end the conflict.”
Asked whether the US would apply pressure on Putin amid stalling ceasefire talks, Pigott highlighted the US president’s desire for direct talks.
He added: “I’m not going to get ahead of the president in terms of what he may or may not decide to do, but what the president is able to do – and it’s a credit to his leadership that we’ve seen the parties engage in some sort of effort to try to get to that ceasefire. That’s what the president wants to see. That remains his motivation here.”
Trump, who has been hesitant about pushing Russia away from the negotiating table, nevertheless, suggested on Thursday that he would apply punitive measures on “both sides” if the war does not end.
“We’ll be very, very, very tough, and it could be on both countries to be honest,” Trump said. “You know, it takes two to tango.”
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