Topics: Donald Trump, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Politics, World News
Donald Trump has announced that Ukraine and Russia ‘could be very close’ to securing a peace deal to end their almost four year long conflict.
The US President made the remarks after a successful meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, which saw the pair hash out some of the finer details of a 20-point peace proposal.
During their time together at Mar-a-Lago, Trump, 79, and Zelenskyy, 47, discussed ending the war in Ukraine, and despite a few bumps in the road, it now appears to be more likely than ever.
"We could be very close," Trump said, according to CNN. "There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues. But I think we’re doing very well.
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"We made a lot of progress today, but really, we’ve made it over the last month," he continued. "This is not a one-day process. It’s very complicated stuff."
While the progress is undoubtedly good news for Ukraine, the whole meeting wasn’t completely uneventful with Zelenskyy appearing visibly pained at times during some of Trump’s remarks. In particular, the President’s insinuation that the war would never have happened if it weren’t for ‘interference’ in the US election.
"If the election wasn't rigged and stolen, [in] 2020, you wouldn't have had this war," Trump claimed Sunday. "And it didn't happen for four years—never was even thought to happen."
Yet even despite the bold claims, that Trump has no evidence to back up, he did express his optimism for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
The two countries have been at war since February 2022, when Russia launched a full scale invasion of its Eastern neighbour. Since then, repeated missile strikes as well as a large scale ground assault have seen thousands of soldiers and civilians killed, making it all the more crucial that a lasting ceasefire be established.
“I do believe that we have the makings of a deal that’s good for Ukraine, good for everybody,” Trump said.
“We’re going to get it done,” Trump said about ending the war. “We’re going to have a great meeting today. This gentleman has worked very hard, and he’s very brave, and his people are very brave. What they’ve gone through no nation, very rarely, has a nation ever had to go through this. So, we’re going to have a very good meeting today.”
Sunday's meeting came just hours after Russia had once again bombed Kyiv, but a glimmer of hope was on the horizon as Trump also revealed he had spoken to Vladimir Putin on the phone and would do so again to relay the revised peace terms following the meeting with Zelenskyy.
