The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to get in front of US President Donald Trump in front of the US counterpart to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It is very important, otherwise it will look like a dialogue about Ukraine without Ukraine. It is still important that partners discuss their problems first and then have a conversation with the enemy,” said Zelenskyy Reuters in an interview on Friday.
The support of the United States was of crucial importance for Ukraine, since it has repelled Russian armed forces since the beginning of all-out invasion in 2022 when the then US President Joe Biden was in the White House.
The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about how US policy could change now. Some officials have signaled their support to meet Russia with stronger sanctions, while the new US foreign minister said that Ukraine cannot get the entire territory back under Russian control.
Before taking office, Trump repeatedly claimed that he could end the war within 24 hours. This did not happen more than two weeks after his second presidency.
It is still not exactly clear how the US leader would try to stop the fights – although some would see a potential for changes with a new president in the Oval Office.
John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, told Times Radio that he was “carefully optimistic” that the Trump government would be able to achieve “a sustainable peace”-but not one that everyone Returns Russian territory.
“Your declared goal is a sustainable peace, not necessarily a just peace,” he said.
‘I am here’
In Washington, Trump “probably” said with Zelenskyy in the coming week, although it was not clear whether that would be a personal conversation or not.
“I’m here,” said the US President when he was asked where this meeting could take place. Trump said he wouldn’t travel to Ukraine.
The US President also showed himself for the meeting with Putin and referred to the “good relationship” that he believes that they had done the two for a long time. In the days after winning the US election last November, Putin offered flattering words in the days after winning the US election.
The Kremlin now emphasized the need for patience when Putin will speak to Trump.
US President Donald Trump has boasted that he can end the war in Ukraine, but there was little information on how to make it possible.
If this is done, it is expected that the two guides will discuss Trump’s wish that the Ukraine decline would end sooner than later.
“Russia is open to negotiations. In any case, an agreement should be due to negotiations,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday.
Minerals, Ukraine and US support
This week, Ukraine turned out to make Ukraine available to the United States rare earth minerals as a form of payment for the support for the struggle of Ukraine against Russia.
The idea had become Trump last year, and Zelenskyy signaled that it was a conversation that Ukraine is open – provided that security guarantees are part of such business with allies.
“When we talk about a deal, let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” he said to Reuters.
Zelenskyy said that less than 20 percent of Ukraine mineral resources – including half of its deposits of the rare earth – are under Russian occupation.
Trump points to the human tribute
Russia started its comprehensive invasion on February 24, 2022, which Putin occupied as a “special military operation” and not as a war. After almost three years of fighting, Russia almost takes a fifth of Ukraine, but has not overthrown the government in Kyiv.
The war was equally expensive for Ukrainian civilians and soldiers: Zelenskyy recently said that more than 45,000 Ukrainian soldiers defended against Ukraine.
The real sums can be higher than what is specified, but the human tribute of the conflict is something that Trump previously emphasized in the criticism of the war.
“I would like to see that it only ends on a human basis,” said Trump on Friday. “I would like to see this end. It’s a ridiculous war.”
