Trump refuses to name Ukraine as participant in negotiations to end war, once again calls for peace
US President Donald Trump evaded answering a question of whether he considers Ukraine an equal participant in the negotiation process, according to Voice of America journalist Ostap Yarysh.
The question was asked at Trump's press conference.
When asked whether he considered Ukraine an equal participant in this peace process, Trump replied: "it's an interesting question. I think they have to make peace. Their people are being killed and I think they have to make peace. I said that was not a good war to go into and I think they have to make peace. That's what I think.”
When asked whether Ukraine should cede its territories for the sake of peace, Trump stressed that Zelenskyy "is going to have to do what he has to do."
"But you know his poll numbers aren't particularly great. To put it mildly. He's got a country where it's been savaged and attacked. And he's got an army that's been very, very brave actually despite the fact that we've given him in my opinion $350 billion. That's what the real number is. You don't hear that number and Europe has given in my opinion $100 billion and they've done it in the form of a loan,” said Trump.
On February 12, US President Donald Trump first spoke by phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and then with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump said that he and Putin agreed that they wanted to “stop millions of deaths.” According to the Russian leader’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, Putin told Trump about the need to eliminate the “root causes of the conflict” and also invited the US president to Moscow.