The US wants a deal with Russia. Trump: If we don't do this, many people will pay a great price

If we do not reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine, many people will pay a great price for it, US President Donald Trump said on Monday when asked why he would not help Ukraine win. However, Trump assessed that Ukraine could win the war, because in war everything is possible.

The US president spoke to journalists about the war in Ukraine during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanes at the White House. Answering an Australian reporter's question about why, having the strongest military in the world, he wouldn't help Ukraine end the war, Trump replied that he didn't know what she was talking about and added that it was “a little more complicated.”

– We're trying to make a deal. If it works, great. If it fails, many people will pay a high price, Trump said, without elaborating.

And when asked about the discrepancy between his previous claims – he said in September that Ukraine could regain occupied territories and now called on it to abandon those efforts – Trump said he never said Ukraine would win the war, but it was possible.

– Anything can happen. You know, war is a very strange thing. Lots of bad things are happening. A lot of good things are happening, Trump said.

According to reports from the Financial Times and the Washington Post, Trump allegedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to hand over the rest of the Donetsk Oblast to Russia, warning that otherwise Ukraine would be destroyed. Ultimately, however, Trump publicly supported the call for a ceasefire at the current line of contact.

The American president also answered affirmatively to the question whether in his conversation with the Russian leader he appealed to him to stop bombing civilian objects in Ukraine. Immediately afterwards, however, he added that soldiers are most often the victims of war, repeating his estimate of losses – 5-7 thousand. people every week.

– It's a bloody slaughterhouse. The worst since World War II in terms of numbers. And you know, it doesn't concern us in any way. We don't pay anything for it because now they pay us for the weapons they get. NATO is paying for it, Trump said. – You can probably say that it's a positive thing that they pay us, but I'm not interested in it – he added.

On Monday, the foreign ministers of both countries, Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov, held a telephone conversation before the planned summit of US and Russian leaders. The Russian Foreign Ministry characterized the conversation as constructive, while the US Department of State noted that Rubio “stressed the importance of the upcoming meetings as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to work together to reach a lasting solution to the Russia-Ukraine war, in line with President Trump's vision.”

Rubio and Lavrov are scheduled to meet face-to-face later this week, most likely on Thursday. The date for the leaders' meeting in Budapest has not been set, but Trump said it would take place within two weeks.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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