Trump again criticised President Zelensky for repeatedly missing opportunities to pursue peace negotiations.
A day after claiming that Ukraine need a new leader in place of Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was eager to reach a settlement to end the war with Kyiv.
Reiterating his view that Putin wanted to bring the hostilities to a close, Trump added, “President Putin would like to see a settlement strongly. “Ukraine will be ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops striking our energy infrastructure. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha pushed back on Trump’s comments, writing on X late Saturday that Zelenskyy was leading the country through a war for its independence. “He has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide. Statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well,” Sybiha wrote. Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange fire.
He further remarked, “But as I said, this is something that could have been solved many times, but for whatever reason, Zelensky does not want to make a deal. Any de-escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees,” Zelensky said in a post on X. Meanwhile, Zelensky said on Sunday that Kyiv would be ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Moscow ceased attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, amid criticism from his US counterpart. Russian strikes killed at least seven people in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, officials said on Saturday.
“I think that Russia would like to make a deal, and we’ve had it back and forth.
But Russia would like to make a deal,” Trump said, according to ANI.
