US President Donald Trump has indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not be ready to negotiate peace in Ukraine, despite recent momentum in talks achieved during the summit between the two leaders in Alaska last week, according to a CNN report published Tuesday.
In an interview with Fox News’s ‘Fox & Friends’, Trump said, “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem (reaching a peace deal), to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they’re all tired of it, but you never know.”
“We are going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks … It is possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal,” the US President added.
Trump also reiterated that no American troops would be sent to Ukraine as part of any potential deal to end the bloody war in Ukraine, and gave no specific details on what kind of security guarantees the US might offer Kyiv in any post-war scenario.
Zelenskyy Talks Peace As Fighting Rages On
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called his Monday summit at the White House a “major step forward,” praising the trilateral discussions with Trump and the support of European leaders including those from Germany, France and the UK.
Still, suggesting that Zelenskyy may be pushed toward tough compromises to end the war, analysts have warned that the road to peace is still filled with uncertainty, and associated costs.
Meanwhile, Russia continued with its attacks on Ukraine. On Tuesday, Ukrainian air force reported that 270 drones and 10 missiles were launched overnight, in what many see as the biggest attack of the month so far. Multiple fires were reported at energy facilities in Poltava, home to Ukraine’s only oil refinery.
Small Steps, Big Questions
Despite the violence, Ukraine said Russia returned the bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers in a rare humanitarian gesture. Moscow, in turn, received 19 Russian bodies, according to TASS.
Former UK defense attache John Foreman said, “Trump didn’t demand Ukrainian capitulation nor cut off support. The mood music was positive… But there is a great deal of uncertainty.”
In a separate but related development, Ukraine’s key allies in the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ — held fresh talks focussed on additional sanctions and security guarantee planning.
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