Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will need to “get together” in order to put an end to the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, US President Donald Trump stated on Friday.
Trump’s remarks signaled a change from calling Zelensky a “dictator,” following the Ukrainian president’s complaint that his nation, which Russia invaded in 2022, had been excluded from discussions between US and Russian officials.
“President Putin and President Zelensky are going to have to get together. Because you know what? We want to stop killing millions of people,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump added Kyiv would “hopefully in the next fairly short period of time” sign a deal handing Washington preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits.
“They’re very brave, in every way you can imagine. But we are spending our treasure on some country that’s very, very far away,” Trump said of Ukraine.
In exchange for the tens of billions of dollars in aid that his predecessor Joe Biden provided, Trump wants Ukraine to grant US corporations access to its abundant natural resources.
Ukraine is requesting security assurances from the US in exchange for ceding the valuable rights.
On Friday, Zelensky, who had resisted the deal, expressed his hope for a “fair result.”
*
Email *
Website
