WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is to carry talks on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he seems to get buy-in on a U.S. cease-fire proposal he hopes can create a pathway to ending Russia’s devastating struggle on Ukraine.
The engagement is simply the newest flip in dramatically shifting U.S.-Russia relations as Trump made shortly ending the battle a prime precedence — even on the expense of straining ties with longtime American allies who need Putin to pay a worth for the invasion.
“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Trump informed reporters on Monday. “What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a cease-fire and peace. And I think we’ll be able to do it.”
In preparation for the Trump-Putin name, White Home particular envoy Steve Witkoff met final week with Putin in Moscow to debate the proposal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had persuaded senior Ukrainian officers throughout talks in Saudi Arabia to comply with the cease-fire framework.
The U.S. president stated Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as a part of a deal to finish the battle.
Trump, who throughout his marketing campaign pledged to shortly finish the struggle, has at moments boasted of his relationship with Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all whereas accusing Zelenskyy of unnecessarily prolonging the largest land struggle in Europe since World Warfare II.
Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov informed reporters on Tuesday that Trump and Putin will talk about the struggle in Ukraine however added that there are additionally a “large number of questions” relating to normalizing U.S.-Russia relations. The decision will happen between 1 p.m. GMT and three p.m. GMT (9 a.m. ET to 11 a.m. ET), Peskov stated.
Trump has stated that management of land and energy crops will likely be a part of the dialog, which comes on the anniversary of Russia annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula 11 years in the past. That daring land seize by Russia set the stage for Russia to invade its neighbor in 2022.
Witkoff and White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt instructed that U.S. and Russian officers have mentioned the destiny of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant — Europe’s largest — in southern Ukraine.
The plant has been caught within the crossfire since Moscow despatched troops into Ukraine in 2022 and seized the ability shortly after. The U.N.’s Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company has repeatedly expressed alarm about it, fueling fears of a possible nuclear disaster.
The plant is a major asset, producing practically 1 / 4 of Ukraine’s electrical energy within the 12 months earlier than the struggle.
“I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace,” Leavitt stated. “And we’ve never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment. And the president, as you know, is determined to get one done.”
However Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Middle on Navy and Political Energy on the Basis for Protection of Democracies, questioned whether or not Putin is able to finish the struggle or will maintain out for potential additional concessions as Trump grows impatient.
After a disastrous Feb. 28 White Home assembly with Zelenskyy, Trump quickly reduce off some army intelligence-sharing and assist to Ukraine. It was restored after the Ukrainians final week signed off on the Trump administration’s 30-day cease-fire proposal.
“The U.S. has been consistently offering in some form preemptive concessions that have been weakening the American and Ukrainian negotiating position,” Bowman stated. “I think there’s a real danger here that the administration’s approach is boiling down to sticks for Ukraine and carrots for Putin.”
Zelensky in his nightly video handle on Monday made clear he stays uncertain that Putin is prepared for peace.
“Now, almost a week later, it’s clear to everyone in the world — even to those who refused to acknowledge the truth for the past three years — that it is Putin who continues to drag out this war,” Zelenskyy stated.
In his dealings with Zelenskyy and Putin, Trump has continuously targeted on who has the leverage. Putin has “the cards” and Zelenskyy doesn’t, Trump has stated repeatedly.
Trump, who has lengthy proven admiration for Putin, has additionally made clear he’d prefer to see the U.S.-Russia relationship return to a extra regular footing.
The president throughout his latest contentious assembly with Zelenskyy grumbled that “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” a reference to the federal investigation into Russian interference within the 2016 presidential election wherein he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump on Monday once more underscored his view that Ukraine is just not in a robust negotiating place. He stated Russian forces have “surrounded” Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk area — amplifying an assertion made by Russian officers that’s been refuted by Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s military shocked Russia in August final 12 months by attacking throughout the border and taking management of an estimated 1,300 sq. kilometers (500 sq. miles) of land. However Ukraine’s forces are actually in retreat and it has all however misplaced a priceless bargaining chip, as momentum builds for a cease-fire with Russia.
Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the Ukrainians are on their again foot however refutes Russian claims that they’ve encircled his troops in Kursk.
Trump instructed that he’s taken unspecified motion that has saved Russia from slaughtering Ukrainian troops in Kursk.
“They’re surrounded by Russian soldiers, and I believe if it wasn’t for me they wouldn’t be here any longer,” Trump stated.
Leavitt is one among three Trump administration officers who face a lawsuit from The Related Press on First- and Fifth-Modification grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the information company for editorial choices they oppose. The White Home says the AP is just not following an govt order to check with the Gulf of Mexico because the Gulf of America.
