WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday (Aug 16) that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”, after a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land.
After the two leaders met in Alaska on Friday, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Putin had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow’s main targets, a source familiar with the matter said.
Zelenskyy rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.
Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies had demanded. That was a change from his position before the summit, when he said he would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Zelenskyy said Russia’s unwillingness to pause the fighting would complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace. “Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war,” he said on X.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy said he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday.
That will evoke memories of a meeting in the White House Oval Office in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave Zelenskyy a brutal public dressing-down. Trump said a three-way meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy could follow.
Kyiv’s European allies welcomed Trump’s efforts but vowed to back Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia. European leaders might join Monday’s White House meeting as well, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been gradually advancing for months. The war – the deadliest in Europe for 80 years – has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts.
