Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire is making it harder to end the war that has lasted more than three years, according to local media.
“Russia keeps rejecting calls for a ceasefire and has not said when it will stop the attacks. This makes the situation harder,” he wrote on social media late Saturday.
“If they cannot even agree to stop the strikes, it will take much more effort to convince them to accept long-term peaceful coexistence with their neighbors,” he added.
Ukraine’s president to meet Donald Trump to Discuss Further Steps
The Ukrainian President also said that he will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday (August 18).
This comes after a high-level meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska.
Despite the lack of a formal agreement, Trump described the summit as a success, rating it “10 out of 10, in the sense that we got along great.”
“I want to make sure it gets done,” he added, as per CNN. “And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.”
Trump said he and Putin agreed that the Ukraine conflict would end with land swaps and US-backed some type of security guarantee.
When asked about territorial concessions that would give Russia land it didn’t have previously and potential US security assurances for Ukraine, Trump said it was a point of agreement with Putin, as per CNN.
“Well, I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on,” he said.
European Leaders Want Ukraine’s Presence During Next Peace Talks
Meanwhile, a joint statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, and President of the European Commission von der Leyen, it was stated that the next step should be additional talks involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, paving the way for a trilateral summit with European support.
The leaders emphasized that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They welcomed President Trump’s statement that the US is prepared to give security guarantees.
