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Trump stated that Putin was hesitant to meet with Zelenskyy, even as the US President engaged with both leaders in an effort to broker a peace agreement.
US President Donald Trump. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump on Monday said Russian President Vladimir Putin was hesitant to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the former “does not like him”, while also talking about his plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“Someday I’ll see him,” Trump told reporters when asked if he would meet Kim again, ahead of a visit to the White House by South Korea’s new President Lee Jae Myung. “We will meet at some point.”
Notably, Donald Trump was the first US President to meet the North Korean leader and held a series of historic talks to improve relations between the two rivals. Trump also became the first US President to visit North Korea in 2019.
However, despite several meetings, talks between North Korea and the US failed to yield any significant breakthrough, and Pyongyang resumed nuclear testing. No agreement for denuclearisation – a key US demand – was reached.
Trump On Putin-Zelenskyy Talks
Trump also cast doubt on talks between Putin and Zelenskyy amid US efforts to negotiating a last peace in Ukraine. During a press conference, when he was asked why Putin was reluctant to meet Zelenskyy, Trump said, “Because he does not like him. He does not like him.”
The US President also confirmed that he had spoken to Putin since meeting Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House. “Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation. And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and I get very angry about it,” he said.
This came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Putin is willing to hold talks with Zelenskyy, but cast doubt on Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader. “When we come to a stage where you have to sign documents, we’d need a clear understanding that the person who’s signing is legitimate. According to the Ukrainian constitution, Zelenskyy is not,” he told NBC News.
Lavrov underscored that Zelenskyy was the de facto head of the Ukrainian regime, but said that “the issue of who is going to sign the deal on the Ukrainian side is a very serious [one].”
Trump has pushed for a Russia-Ukraine summit before a trilateral meeting involving himself, Putin and Zelenskyy. However, Russia had ruled out any immediate meeting between the leaders of the two warring nations.
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international…Read More
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international… Read More
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