U.S. President Donald Trump believes that ending Russia’s war against Ukraine is only possible with his direct involvement and has expressed interest in meeting with Vladimir Putin, whom he claims is “tired” of the war.
Trump made these remarks in an interview with Fox News, according to Ukrinform.
“He [Putin] is at the table, and he wanted this meeting. And I always felt there can’t be a meeting without me, because I don’t think a deal is going to get through. There’s a lot of hatred on both sides. I have a very good relationship with Putin. I think we will make a deal. We have to get together, and I think we’ll probably schedule it, because I’m tired of having other people go and meet and everything else. I think [U.S. Special Envoy] Steve Witkoff has done an incredible job. But it’s a very tough job,” Trump said.
According to him, Putin is “tired” of the war, which he initially intended to win in a week.
“I think Putin is tired of this whole thing. He’s not looking good, and he wants to look good. Don’t forget, this was supposed to end in one week. And if he didn’t get stuck in the mud with his army tanks all over the place, he would’ve been in Kyiv in about five hours,” Trump said.
When asked whether he views Putin as the main obstacle to peace, Trump avoided giving a direct answer. Instead, he repeated his belief that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lacks leverage.
“Look, I had a real rough session with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky because I didn’t like what he said, and he was not making it easy. And I always said he doesn’t have the cards, and he doesn’t have the cards,” Trump added.
The interviewer also brought up Trump’s previous Truth Social post urging Putin to stop the war, but Trump sidestepped the question and shifted the topic to trade deals made during his Middle East trip.
When asked about Senator Lindsey Graham’s bill proposing harsh sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, Trump responded by highlighting his success in using similar measures against Venezuela and Iran.
“I just put it on Venezuela. It’s secondary sanctions. I just did it with Venezuela. […] I just did it with Iran. Basically, if you buy oil from Iran, you can’t do business with the United States. And you’ll see the ships just leaving the port. You know, in Venezuela it was amazing,” Trump said.
When asked why such measures should not be applied to Russia, Trump replied that he would wait to see the outcome of negotiations in Turkey.
“We will see what happens. That would be crushing for Russia because they are having a hard time with the economy. Oil prices are low, you know,” Trump said.
Photo: White House
Source: Trump says Ukraine-Russia peace deal only possible with his involvement, claims Putin 'tired' of war
