US President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that Russia would keep “some properties” captured in Ukraine, noting that Russia had captured them in combat. However, he said he sensed that Vladimir Putin was open to ending the war.
Trump responded in this way to a question from Fox Business journalist Maria Bartiromo about whether he felt that he was the leader of Russia “Putin would be willing or open to the idea of ending this war without taking much of Ukraine's territory.”
The US president first nodded and then added:
– Well, he'll take something. They fought and now they have a lot of possessions. He won certain possessions (…) We are the only country that enters, wins the war and then leaves, as we did under President Bush in the Middle East.
He mentioned that he was in favor of it At least America “kept its oil” in Iraqbut instead America “torn the country to pieces and left.”
Something for something, i.e. peace for the partition of Ukraine
On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that during a telephone conversation with Trump on Thursday, Putin suggested that in exchange for control over the Donetsk Oblast, he could give up parts of two other regions of Ukraine that he had previously conquered in the Zaporizhia and Kherson Oblasts, officials said, asking not to be identified. These are slightly smaller territorial claims than those he made in August at the U.S.-Russian summit in Anchorage, Alaska. Some White House officials portrayed it as progress, one source said. The second source said that Ukrainians probably don't see it that way.
In an interview recorded on Thursday but broadcast on Sunday, Trump confirmed that he was “looking at” selling Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but suggested that he would not do so due to the US's own needs.
– I talked to Vladimir Putin about it, not that he was thrilled. They are brutal, cruel weapons, but (…) we also need them for ourselves. We cannot give all our weapons to Ukraine (…) I have been very good to President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and to Ukraine, but we cannot give if it is not enough for us, I don't want to do it – he added
Trump also suggested that would like to return to normal trade with Russiabut in his first presidential term, normalization was hindered by the scandal regarding his people's links with Russia, and now the war is an obstacle.
– I have good relations with President Putin. I always had them: don't forget that he had to go through the whole “Russia, Russia, Russia” scam, which made it very difficult for us to trade and other things (…) So now we have a war (…), but there is huge trade potential there and I hope we will succeed, he said.
In a previously published fragment of the interview, Trump also suggested that he may withdraw from retaliatory tariffs on goods from China in response to the restrictions introduced by the PRC authorities on the export of critical minerals. He agreed that an additional 100 percent tariff was probably “unsustainable,” but said he was forced to do so by Beijing's decision. Trump also assured that he did not want to “destroy China.”
Zelensky: Trump should increase the pressure
US President Donald Trump should increase the pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin, because only then will he take negotiations seriously, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview for NBC television. He added that Trump didn't say “no” to him about selling the Tomahawks, but he didn't say “yes” either.
In an interview conducted on Friday after the meeting at the White House and broadcast on Sunday, Zelensky expressed doubts about the possibility of a breakthrough after the planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest.
He also answered “yes” to the question whether Trump should increase pressure on the Russian leader, as he did against the parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
– Yes, and even more so, because Putin is someone similar, but still stronger than Hamas. It's a bigger war and he has the second largest army in the world, so that's why more pressure is needed, Zelensky said.
He said that although he did not think that Putin wanted to end the invasion of Ukraine, the pressure would include in the form of sanctions may change this.
“There will come a time when there will be pressure on him, enough pressure and he will be ready. He is afraid of his society that with even more pressure and the not so comfortable life of his people, they will pressure him. He is only afraid of his society because he wants to be president until he dies, Zelensky said.
The President of Ukraine agreed with Trump's view that the starting point for peace talks should be the current line of contact.
When asked if he was disappointed by Trump's decision not to sell Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, he admitted that he wanted these missiles so that “they (Russians) feel what we (Ukrainians) feel,” pointing to the bombing of energy infrastructure facilities.
He emphasized that Russia is afraid of Tomahawks and the damage they can do to Russian military facilities. He noted, however, that he did not hear a clear negative answer from Trump.
– It's good that President Trump didn't say “no”, but for today, he didn't say “yes” either – said Zelensky.
From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)
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