Trump Claims He Holds the Key to Any Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal
US President Donald Trump is positioning himself as a key figure in negotiations to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The Gaze reports on this, referring to POLITICO.
In an interview, Trump commented on his upcoming meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which is scheduled to take place in Florida on Sunday. Zelenskyy is expected to bring to the United States a new 20-point plan to resolve the war, which includes the establishment of a demilitarized zone and the provision of US security guarantees for Ukraine.
At the same time, Trump expressed a reserved attitude toward the proposal, hinting at the decisive role of the United States in approving both the plan itself and any future security guarantees.
“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it. So we’ll see what he’s got,” he said.
Despite this, Trump voiced cautious optimism about the upcoming contacts, saying he expects a “good” conversation with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he said he plans to speak with in the near future.
“I think it’s going to go good with him. I think it’s going to go good with [Vladimir] Putin,” Trump added.
The remarks came a day after Zelenskyy held talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, discussions the Ukrainian president described as productive. The parties discussed a number of important working issues and ideas that, according to Ukrainian president, "can work for the common good and lasting peace”.
Meanwhile, as was stated by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in the latest reports, Russia has shown little willingness to move away from its maximalist demands and has so far not responded to Zelenskyy’s new initiative. Moscow has already rejected Ukrainian and European counterproposals and remains committed to its own conditions, despite heavy battlefield losses that have yielded only minimal territorial gains.
Analysts note that the Kremlin is also dissatisfied with the current 20-point peace plan for failing to restrict NATO expansion or limit Ukraine’s armed forces, signaling low prospects for a negotiated settlement and a high likelihood that Russia will continue its confrontational course.
As The Gaze reported earlier, Russia opposed an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, calling it a neglect of the causes of the conflict, which once again demonstrates the Kremlin's unwillingness to achieve a just peace.
Read also on The Gaze: Zelenskyy: Ukraine’s 20-Point Peace Plan Is 90% Complete