Donald Trump about Ukraine and putin!

Diana Lusta

PART I

If you didn’t get enough news from Washington yesterday, here are more statements from Donald Trump about Ukraine that he made later while speaking with journalists.

Journalists: Do you consider Ukraine an equal participant in this peace process?

Donald Trump: (Pause) Hmm. That’s an interesting question. I think they should make peace. Their people are being killed, and I think they should make peace. I said this is not a good war to be involved in. I think they should make peace. That’s what I think.

Journalists: Would you support Zelensky making territorial concessions or exchanging territories?

Trump: He will have to do what he has to do. But, you know, his poll numbers aren’t very high. To put it mildly. He has a country that has been devastated and attacked. And he has an army – actually, a very, very brave one. Despite what we’ve given him, in my opinion, $350 billion- that’s the real number.

You don’t hear that number. And Europe has given, in my opinion, $100 billion, and they did it in the form of loans. (I’m not sure which exact sums and loans Trump is referring to.)
My Treasury Secretary is in Ukraine to prepare a document ensuring that we get this money back in some form. We will secure our money. They have rare earth metals, they have oil and gas, and they have many other resources, and we are asking for security for our money. Ukraine has agreed to this.

J: Does this mean that Ukraine will no longer receive aid?

Trump: We will continue providing aid. But we want to make sure our money is secure. … If we didn’t do this, then putin would say he won. We are the force that is holding this back. And honestly, we will do this as long as we have to because we don’t want to allow the alternative. But President putin now wants peace, and that’s good. Under Biden, he didn’t want peace.

J: Do you see a future where Ukraine returns to its pre-2014 borders?

Trump: Pete Hegseth said today that this is unlikely, right? It certainly seems unlikely. They have taken a lot of territory, they have fought for this land, and they have lost many soldiers. I’m not expressing my opinion on this, but I’ve read a lot about it, and many people think it’s unlikely. I think some of this land will be returned. Yes, part of this land will be returned.

J: Did Pete Hegseth limit some of the negotiation options with putin by ruling out Ukraine’s sovereign integrity?

Trump: No, I didn’t do that. I went back to Ukraine. Don’t say that! But I want security for our money.

J: The Secretary of Defense mentioned the 2014 borders and no NATO membership. Both of these demands were made by russia in the past. Is there a risk that russia is winning here?

Trump: If you look at how the war is going, you have to decide for yourself. I’m just here to try to make peace. I don’t particularly care about anything else except stopping the killing of millions of people. Last night, you know, Kyiv was hit very, very hard. I want the killing to stop. This war is senseless.

PART II

Donald Trump spoke on the phone with putin…..
Here is the text from his official account (Probably, they will celebrate together on May 9th as well)

Trump says Putin and Zelenskiy want peace; phone calls kick off talks to end Ukraine war
• Trump says he’ll meet Putin soon, likely in Saudi Arabia
• Hegseth says it is unrealistic to expect Ukraine to return to 2014 borders
• Bessent, in Kyiv, says mineral deal could serve as ‘security shield’ for Ukraine
• No publicly acknowledged peace talks have been held since early months of three-year-old war

Donald Trump said both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed a desire for peace in separate phone calls with him on Wednesday, and Trump ordered top U.S. officials to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

The conversations came after Trump’s defense secretary earlier said Kyiv would have to give up its long-held goals of joining the NATO military alliance and regaining all of its territory seized by Russia, signaling a dramatic shift in Washington’s approach to the conflict.

After speaking with Putin for more than an hour, Trump said the Russian leader, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, wants the war to end and they discussed “getting a ceasefire in the not-too-distant future.”

“He wants it to end. He doesn’t want to end it and then go back to fighting six months later,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“I think we’re on the way to getting peace. I think President Putin wants peace, President Zelenskiy wants peace and I want peace. I just want to see people stop getting killed,” he added.

Trump has long said he would quickly end the war in Ukraine, without spelling out exactly how he would accomplish this.
The Kremlin earlier said Putin and Trump had agreed to meet, and Putin had invited Trump to visit Moscow. Trump said their first meeting would “probably” take place soon in Saudi Arabia.

In a post on his social media platform, he said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, national security adviser Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff would lead negotiations on ending the war.

Trump and Zelenskiy spoke after Trump’s call with Putin, and Zelenskiy’s office said the conversation lasted for about an hour.
“I had a meaningful conversation with @POTUS. We… talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together …and Ukraine’s technological capabilities… including drones and other advanced industries,” Zelenskiy wrote on X.

No Ukraine peace talks have been held since the early months of the conflict, now approaching its third anniversary. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, oversaw billions of dollars of military and other aid to Kyiv and had no direct contact with Putin after Russia’s invasion.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has demanded Kyiv cede more territory and be rendered permanently neutral under any peace deal.
Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and says it must receive NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.

European powers, including Britain, France and Germany, said on Wednesday they had to be part of any future negotiations on the fate of Ukraine, underscoring that only a fair accord with security guarantees would ensure lasting peace. They said they were ready to enhance support for Ukraine and put it in a position of strength.
‘ILLUSIONARY GOAL’

Earlier on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered the new administration’s bluntest statement so far on its approach to the war, saying Kyiv could not realistically hope to return to previous borders or join NATO.

“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” Hegseth told a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

Russia in 2014 annexed Crimea, which Ukraine and many Western countries consider to be occupied Ukrainian territory.

Hegseth said any durable peace must include “robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again”. But he said U.S. troops would not be deployed to Ukraine as part of such guarantees.

Zelenskiy, hoping to keep Trump interested in continuing to support his country, has lately proposed a deal under which the United States would invest in minerals in Ukraine.

Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in Kyiv on Wednesday on the first visit by a member of Trump’s cabinet, said such a mineral deal could serve as a “security shield” for Ukraine after the war.

Trump also said Rubio and Vice President JD Vance will hold talks about the war on Friday in Munich, where Ukrainian officials were expected to attend an annual security conference.

The new diplomacy followed a U.S.-Russia prisoner swap that got under way on Tuesday, which the Kremlin said could help build trust between the two countries.
Russia on Tuesday freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who was serving a 14-year sentence in a Russian prison, in exchange for a Russian cybercrime boss imprisoned in the U.S., according to a official.

13-02-2025

Diana Lusta is from Kyiv, Kyiv City, Ukraine

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