Ukrainian official: Trump pressured Zelenskiy to cede Donbas to Russia at White House meeting. “Your country will freeze and be destroyed”
The Friday, October 17, meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House was marked by tensions, with Ukrainian officials claiming that the US president had pressured Ukraine to cede the Donbas region to Russia.
The meeting at the White House would have been quite tense. PHOTO: Profimedia
During the meeting on Friday, October 17, at the White House, US President Donald Trump would have exerted pressure on his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region to Russia, in exchange for a possible end to the war, according to a senior Ukrainian official quoted by AFP.
The official said that Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelensky to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the territories they still control in eastern Ukraine, thus complying with demands made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the same source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the meeting was “tense and difficult” and Washington's diplomacy, with Trump's frequent position changes, left Ukrainian officials with the impression that they were “going around in circles”.
Other sources close to the discussion confirmed the tense atmosphere, noting that Donald Trump refused to look at the maps of the front presented by the Ukrainians, used harsh language and asked Zelensky to accept Russia's proposals, warning that otherwise his country risks destruction, notes Agerpres.
“The meeting was pretty bad, and Trump's message was: 'Your country will freeze and be destroyed' if Ukraine doesn't make a deal with Russia,” another Ukrainian official said.
Neither side is willing to give in
At the Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin meeting in Alaska in August, Russia would have proposed the complete withdrawal of Ukraine from Donbas in exchange for freezing the rest of the front. But, according to the American media, in the telephone conversation between the two leaders on Thursday, before Trump's meeting with Zelenskiy, Putin indicated a possible backward step on Moscow's part, namely the return of some occupied southern portions (Kherson and Zaporozhye) in exchange for Russia's complete control over Donbas.
The Kremlin later denied any change in its position on its calls for an amnesty, and Donald Trump, in turn, dismissed reports that he had asked Zelenski to cede Donbas to Russia.
We remind you that in a recent interview with Fox News, President Trump said that Putin is “going to take something”, referring to the occupied Ukrainian areas, which he described as “property” obtained through the struggle.
“I mean, they fought and they have a lot of property,” he stated in the interview.
After the White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Donald Trump published a message on Truth Social, in which he pointed out that Putin and Zelenskiy “must stop where they are” and urged them both to make a pact to stop the bloodshed, letting history decide the winner.
“Let them both claim victory. Let history decide,” he wrote the American president on the social network.
