‘Think we have a deal with Russia’: Donald Trump on truce to end Ukraine war
Donald Trump also accused Zelensky of prolonging the war by refusing to part with Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Russia has agreed to a deal to end the war in Ukraine, while lashing out his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for prolonging the conflict by resisting ceding Crimea.
"I think we have a deal with Russia. We have to get a deal with Zelensky," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added, "I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelensky. So far, it's been harder."
Earlier in the day, Trump said that Zelensky was prolonging the "killing field" by refusing to part with the Crimean Peninsula, occupied by Russia since 2014.
The Ukrainian president has been consistently refused to cede the territory to Russia as part of a US-negotiated peace deal. "There is nothing to talk about -- it is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people," he said before the talks in London between Ukrainian, European and US officials.
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‘Difficult to settle war’
Taking to Truth Social, Trump wrote, "This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion."
The US President has consistently been pinning the blame for the outbreak of the war on Zelensky, alleging that he was responsible for "millions of deaths".
Trump asked as to why did Ukraine not fight for Crimea 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired.
The US President alleged that such "inflammatory statements" are making it difficult to "settle" this war, adding that Zelensky "has nothing to boast about".
Later, Trump also told reporters that he did not know whether he would meet Zelensky or other European leaders to discuss the Ukraine war in Italy, where he will be present to attend Pope Francis' funeral.
On Wednesday, Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations that might bring a ceasefire and open the door to full peace negotiations.
"We insist on an immediate, complete and unconditional ceasefire," Zelensky said.
Ukraine and some Western European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet on that proposal as his army tries to capture more Ukrainian land.
