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US President Donald Trump has likened a meeting between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to “mixing oil and vinegar”, indicating that his administration has been unable to get the two leaders to talk.
“We’re going to see if Putin and Zelenskyy will be working together, you know, that’s like oil and vinegar, a little bit. They don’t get along too well for obvious reasons, but we’ll see,” Trump said.
When asked about his own participation in the talks, the president said, “And then we’ll see whether or not I would have to be there. I would rather not. I would rather have them have a meeting and see how they can do. But in the meantime, they continue to fight and they continue to kill people, which is very stupid because they’re losing 7000 people.”
Trump announced earlier this week that he would set up a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin as he held discussions with Ukraine’s European allies in the White House. The development was confirmed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Russia rules out meeting
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “no meeting” was planned as Trump’s mediation efforts appeared to stall, while Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to prolong the war.
Lavrov dampened hopes for direct Putin-Zelensky talks to resolve the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president’s legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin’s maximalist claims.
The veteran Russian diplomat said Putin was “ready to meet Zelensky” as soon as an agenda was prepared. He added that such an agenda was “not ready at all.”
With inputs from agencies