“Things are going well.” Trump believes that a settlement to Russia's war against Ukraine is “closer than ever”

“An hour ago we had a very good conversation with European leaders, many of them, about Russia's war in Ukraine. It was a long discussion. Things seem to be going well, but we've been talking about this for a long time,” Trump said.

According to him, the Russian Federation “at this moment wants this to be completed.”

“The problem is that they will want to finish it – and then suddenly change their mind. And Ukraine will want it to be finished – and then suddenly change their mind,” Trump emphasized.

Trump noted that US representatives had many conversations with the Russian delegation and the illegitimate president of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

“I think we're closer now [к урегулированию российско-украинской войны]than ever. Let's see what we can do“, said the American President.

Context

Before the meeting in Berlin, the Ukrainian and US delegations had already held seven rounds of negotiations on a “peace plan” for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian war. In parallel, the American side is discussing this issue with the Russian Federation.

On December 10, Trump held a “tense” telephone conversation with the leaders of France, Germany and Great Britain, urging them to put pressure on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to agree to the terms of the “peace plan,” the WSJ reported. On the same day, Ukraine handed over to the American side a framework document for a “peace plan” consisting of 20 main points, the president said. According to the NYT, Ukraine is in the US response to the “peace plan” rejected the refusal of the territories of Donbass and entry into NATO.

Negotiations between the delegations of Ukraine and the United States took place in Berlin December 14th and 15th. After the first meeting, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff reported that “significant progress had been made” in the negotiations. December 15 Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, member of the Ukrainian negotiating group Rustem Umerov expressed hope that by the evening it will be possible to “reach an agreement that will bring us closer to peace.”

AFP reported that Ukraine at this meeting sought a ceasefire without territorial concessions, and, according to Reuters, Zelensky offered to abandon Ukraine's accession to NATO in exchange for security guarantees.

On the evening of December 15 in Berlin, the leaders of several European countries gathered for a meeting on Ukraine, they were joined by Vitkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.