 "US President Donald Trump. AFP File")
Hours before his high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, US President Donald Trump on Friday said he wanted to see an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, adding he “won’t be happy” if it doesn’t happen today.
According to The Guardian report, in a clip posted from aboard Air Force One on his way to Anchorage, Trump gave what he described as his clearest answer yet on what would define success at the summit.
“I can’t tell you that. I don’t know… there’s nothing set in stone. I want certain things. I want to see a ceasefire,” The Guardian quoted Trump as saying.
“This is not to do with Europe. Europe’s not telling me what to do, but they’re going to be involved in the process, obviously, as well Zelenskyy, but I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today. Everyone said it can’t be today, but I’m just saying I want the killing to stop,” he added.
Trump said that his efforts were not driven by personal gain.
“I’m not doing this for my health. OK, I don’t need it,” he said. “I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives.”
Impact Shorts
View AllCiting what he said were battlefield casualty figures, Trump continued, “What I do care about is they lost last week 7011 people, almost all soldiers; 36 people in a town which got hit by a missile. Over 7,000 soldiers. It’s crazy.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine.
Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. “I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I’m here to get them at a table,” he said.
His remarks came just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of continuing to kill civilians on the very day peace negotiations were scheduled to begin.
“There is no order, nor any signals from Moscow that it is preparing to end this war… they are also killing on the day of the negotiations," AFP quoted Zelenskyy as saying in a video address posted to social media.
Trump also acknowledged the involvement of European allies in any future peace framework but stressed that the immediate focus must be on ending the bloodshed.
“I’m in this to stop the killing,” he said.
The US and Russian presidents are due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska’s largest city at around 11 am (1900 GMT) for their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House.
Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war will bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.
With inputs from agencies