US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he thought it would be best for President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to sit down for a one-on-one talk – before all three hold a trilateral discussion to continue negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – because the two presidents have a “very bad relationship” after almost four years of full-scale war.
Trump hosted Zelensky and several European leaders at the White House on Monday in his continued effort to push forward peace talks after meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday.
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“I thought it would be better if they met without me, just to see,” Trump told the host of The Mark Levin Show, a conservative American radio program. “I want to see what goes on.”
“You know, they had a hard relationship, very bad, very bad relationship,” he said, speaking of the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
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“Now we’ll see how they do and, if necessary, and it probably would be, but if necessary, I’ll go and I’ll probably be able to get it close,” Trump added.
Trump wrote on social media yesterday that he was already in the process of arranging a meeting between Zelensky and Putin and that a trilateral meeting including the US would follow.
“I just want to see what happens at the meeting,” he said on Tuesday. “So they’re in the process of setting it up, and we’re going to see what happens.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier today that Putin had agreed with Trump to meet with Zelensky.
In other comments on Tuesday, Trump said that he would not send American soldiers to Ukraine as part of peace negotiations after speculation arose at Monday’s Washington summit.
“You have my assurance,” Trump said in response to a question on Fox News about whether he could guarantee that US boots would not be on the ground.
“You know, I’m president, and I’m just trying to stop people from being killed,” he told the hosts of Fox and Friends.
Trump said Kyiv’s European partners, namely France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, would most likely “front-load” Ukraine’s security and be the countries committing troops to maintaining peace.
“When it comes to security, [the EU is] willing to put people on the ground,” he said.
The US may provide Ukraine and its allies with other forms of security guarantees, the US president added, including air support.
Ukraine has called on the West to close the skies over the country to stop Russia from attacking civilians since the full-scale invasion began.
“We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably by air,” Trump said. “Because nobody has the kind of stuff we have.”
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