Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian ruler Vladimir Putin need to work together, says US President Donald Trump, Sky News has reported.
Trump has continued his critical statements against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stating the Ukrainian leader “has no cards” to negotiate with and questioning his importance at peace meetings. His claims came amid the absence of a peace agreement with Russia, which he said he could reach in 24 hours after he took office as a new US president.
In his latest meeting with journalists, Trump repeated a claim that Russia wants to reach a deal with Ukraine. He also revealed that a new round of talks between Washington and Moscow would begin on 25 February in Saudi Arabia.
Addressing an earlier report, he said he would not be in Moscow on 9 May for Victory Day. On 10 February, Reuters reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit the event.
On 18 February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held nearly five hours of talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital. Ukraine was not invited to the meeting.
The US State Department stated that Rubio and Lavrov agreed to create a consultation mechanism to address “stress factors” in US-Russian relations and to form a high-level group to “swiftly” explore ways to end the war in Ukraine. However, no official deal was reached.
US, Russia hold five-hour talks in Saudi Arabia without Ukraine’s participation
Later, Rubio said that the potential meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin “will largely depend on whether we can make any progress on ending the war in Ukraine.”
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