U.S. President Donald Trump expressed the opinion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is currently not sufficiently inclined towards a negotiation process that could end the Russian-Ukrainian war. Trump made this statement in an interview with the American publication Politico.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Trump on the positions of the parties regarding the end of the war
According to Trump, Russian Federation leader Vladimir Putin is “ready to make a deal” to cease hostilities. At the same time, Trump did not specify which factors, in his opinion, are preventing Volodymyr Zelensky from starting a dialogue and reaching an agreement, but he reiterated that the Ukrainian president “needs to get to work and make a deal.”
“It’s unthinkable for him to be an obstacle. You have no cards. Now he has even fewer cards,” Trump repeated a thesis he had previously stated.
In early March, after a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump emphasized that ending the war between Russia and Ukraine remains one of his strategic priorities. He also stated that the resolution of the conflict could occur much more easily, but “there is enormous hatred between Putin and Zelensky.” Trump also noted: “Sometimes I blame one side, sometimes the other.”
Negotiations and prisoner exchanges
Throughout January and February, several rounds of trilateral consultations took place involving Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia, aimed at finding ways to end the war. The parties have not publicly announced specific results from these meetings. It is known only that on February 5, an agreement was reached regarding the exchange of prisoners of war, which marked the first such exchange in the last five months.
The next round of negotiations, which was planned to be held this week in Abu Dhabi, has been temporarily postponed due to the escalation of the situation in the Middle East. New dates for the meeting have not yet been determined.