 "Trump says negotiators headed to Russia 'right now' after Ukraine agrees to truce")
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that negotiators were headed to Russia “right now” for talks on a possible ceasefire with Ukraine, after Kyiv agreed to a 30-day truce.
He said it was now up to Russia after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire during more than eight hours of talks on Tuesday with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
“People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” AFP quoted Trump as saying to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Ireland’s prime minister.
The US president emphasised the extensive devastation and loss of life resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, underscoring the urgent need to end the war.
When asked what actions the US could take to pressure Russia into agreeing to a ceasefire, he said hope that “it is not going to be necessary,” while criticising previous presidents for their handling of relations with Moscow.
“What I did to Russia was very tough, the toughest ever,” The Guardian quoted Trump as saying, explaining his criticism of the Nord Stream pipeline.
“They never took anything from me. They took them from Obama and Bush, and they took from sleepy Joe Biden. With Biden, they wanted to take the whole country, but I think I’ve stopped that, but we’ll see,” he was quoted as saying.
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More ShortsBut Trump said that if needed, “there are things you can do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense,” and would be “very bad for Russia.”
“We could do things very bad for Russia. Would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace,” said Trump.
Earlier in the day, the Kremlin said it was awaiting details from Washington about the proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, while senior Moscow sources said a deal would have to take account of Russia’s advances and address its concerns.
Trump said a ceasefire would make sense for Russia but said there was “a lot of downside for Russia too,” without elaborating.
“We have a very complex situation solved on one side, pretty much solved. We’ve also discussed land and other things that go with it,” he said. “We know the areas of land we’re talking about, whether it’s pull back or not pull back.”
With inputs from agencies
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