President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would try to return lands to Ukraine as he is preparing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and lay the foundation for an agreement to end the multiple grinding war between Ukraine and Russia.
“Russia has occupied a large part of Ukraine. They have occupied some of the very major lands. We will try to restore some of these lands to Ukraine,” Trump said at a White House press conference.
Trump said that he will see what Putin is going on “to end the war”, and if it was a “fair deal”, he will share it with European leaders and NATO, as well as Ukrainian President Voludimir Zellinsky, who were closely possessing with Washington before the meeting.
On Monday, he was asked whether Zelinski had been invited to the meeting on Friday with Putin in Alaska, Trump said that the Ukrainian leader was “not part of him” and that despite his participation in many situations over the course of the war, little did not come from them. “I would like to say that he could go, but he went to a lot of meetings. As you know, there was for three and a half years – nothing happened,” Trump added.
The president’s first appeal from Putin’s meeting, which he referred to as a “really feeling”, will be to Zelenskyy “with respect.” He indicated that he might tell Zelenskyy, “a lot of luck, continuing to fight, or might say,” We can make a deal. “
The comments came during a winding press conference to discuss the efforts to combat crime in Washington, DC, with a plan to give the federal character to the city police force.
During his remarks, the president pointed to how to follow a “great invitation” with Putin in the past, “The missiles will be pressed in Kiev or another place, and you had 60 people dying on the road to die,” a reference to the challenge of reaching a deal.
The president added that the follow -up meeting could include Zelinski and Putin, and maybe Trump himself. He said, “There will be there if they need.”
But Trump said that the Zelenskyy meeting and Putin was the only way to end the conflict.
The president added: “Now, I will say this, in the end, I will put the two in a room, and I will be there or not be there, and I think it will be solved.”
He said he wants to see a ceasefire and reach “the best deal that can be made for both sides.”
But “there will be some swap, there will be some changes on the ground,” Trump said, due to the idea of “land bodies” that said on Friday to improve the two. Nevertheless, Zelinski was constant in his position that Ukraine should not give up any region of Russia; European allies agreed that giving up land would encourage more Russian aggression.
“The answer to the regional question of Ukraine is already in the constitution of Ukraine,” Zellinski said on Saturday. “No one is woe and no one can deviate from it. The Ukrainians will not give their lands to the occupier.”
Trump announced last week that he was meeting with Putin on Friday in Alaska trying to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine. The White House had initially held a meeting with Putin and Zellinski as a condition for a meeting between Trump and the Russian president, but Trump later said this was not a pre -condition.
The White House emphasized during the weekend that the priority is the next one with Putin, even when it was weighing the possibility of a future meeting with Zelenskyy.
“Next Friday will be important, because it will be about the Putin test, and the extent of his seriousness in putting this terrible war,” said NATO Secretary -General Mark Roti during the weekend at ABC.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Whitkov, met Putin in Moscow last week before the deadline on August 8, which the president set for the Russian leader to agree to a ceasefire or face new sanctions.
Putin suggested the outlines of an agreement to end the war that would allow Russia to protect overwhelming Ukrainian lands, but did not agree to a ceasefire.
Zelenskyy urged stronger international pressure on Russia, and warned against Moscow’s concessions.
“Another week has ended without any attempt by Russia to agree to the many demands of the world and stop the killings,” said the Ukrainian leader on X.
“Russia takes out the war, and therefore it deserves stronger global pressure. Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore it should not receive any rewards or benefits. This is not just a moral position – it is a rational position.