Trump called his meeting with Zelensky on October 17 “very interesting and welcoming.”
“But I told him, as I firmly advised President Putin, that the time has come to stop the killing and make a deal! Enough blood has been shed,” the American president emphasized. “They must stop where they are. Let both declare victory, let history decide!”
Trump also called on Russia and Ukraine for a ceasefire in the war.
“No more shooting, no more deaths, no more huge and unaffordable sums of money being spent on this. […] Thousands of people are being killed every week – that’s enough, go home to your families in peace!” said the head of the White House.
Trump traditionally added that the Russian war against Ukraine supposedly “would never have happened” if he had been president of the United States.
Context
On October 16, Trump had a telephone conversation with Putin that lasted “almost two and a half hours.” It was initiated by the Russian Federation. After the conversation, Trump said that his personal talks with Putin would take place for “about” two weeks in Budapest, Hungary.
Zelensky, reacting to Trump’s statement, stressed that the Kremlin “is in a hurry to resume dialogue after hearing about Tomahawk” for Ukraine.
On October 17, Zelensky made his third visit to the United States for negotiations with Trump. They started late.
The media wrote that the President of Ukraine brought the head of the White House maps of “pain points of the Russian defense industry and military economy”, which can be put pressure on in order to force Putin to stop the Russian war against Ukraine.
According to Trump, Putin “wants to end the war.” Zelensky has a different opinion. At the same time, the head of the White House did not directly answer whether Ukraine would be able to return the territories occupied by Russia.
The President of Ukraine said that he is ready to negotiate with Putin in any format. According to Zelensky, Ukraine wants a ceasefire in the war, but Putin doesn’t want it, so “we need to put pressure on him.”
Trump expressed his opinion that the end of the Russian war against Ukraine is “very close.” “We hope that we can end the war without thinking about Tomahawk,” the American president said.
Zelensky offered Trump “thousands of drones” in exchange for Tomahawk for Ukraine. Trump expressed interest in Ukrainian-made UAVs.
