Putin has repeatedly said he is willing to negotiate an end to the war, but Ukraine will have to accept the reality of Russia’s territorial gains, which currently account for about 20 percent of its land. Meanwhile, Kaif says he is not ready to leave his territory.
On Tuesday, Trump said at a news conference that he would talk to Putin “very soon” and appeared likely to impose more sanctions if the Russian leader did not come to the table.
But in his social media post on Wednesday, he added: “I’m going to do Russia, whose economy is failing, and President Putin, a huge favor,” he wrote.
“Settle now, and stop this ridiculous war! It’s only going to get worse. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no choice but to impose taxes, tariffs and embargoes on everything. The other way around is not being sold by Russia to the US, and various other partner countries.”
Continuing, he said: “Let’s start this war, which would never have started if I were president! We can do it the easy way or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. A deal. “.
Earlier, Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told Reuters that the Kremlin would need to know what Trump wanted in a deal to stop the war before the country could move forward.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that any deal would require at least 200,000 peacekeepers.
And he told Bloomberg that any peacekeeping force for his country would have to include US troops to create a realistic deterrent for Russia.
“It can’t happen without America… even if some European friends think it can happen, no it won’t happen,” he said, adding that no one would risk such a move without America. will not take
While Ukraine’s leaders may appreciate a tough-talking Trump – they have always said Putin only understands power – the initial reaction in Kiev to the US president’s comments suggests these are actions people have been waiting for. have been, not of words.
Trump has not specified where or when further economic sanctions might be aimed. Since 2022, Russian imports to the US have been reduced and are already subject to all sorts of heavy sanctions.
Currently, Russia’s main exports to the US are phosphate-based fertilizers and platinum.
