 "US President Donald Trump, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. File image/AP")
Donald Trump said Monday that he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to “fulfil his part” of an agreement to halt the Ukraine conflict, after the US president expressed reservations about Moscow’s commitment.
“I want to make sure that he follows through,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I think he’s going to live up to what he told me, and I think he’s going to fulfil his part of the deal now.”
Trump criticised both Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday as he seeks to end the country’s more than three-year-old war.
Trump told NBC he was “very angry” with Putin for undermining Zelenskyy’s integrity as a negotiator and pushing for new leadership in Ukraine.
Putin earlier this month rejected a US proposal of an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine – that Zelenskyy backed – and has upped his rhetoric on Moscow wanting to install new leadership in Ukraine.
On Sunday, NBC News journalist Kristen Walker said Trump had called her to say he was “pissed off” with Putin and threatened tariffs on firms dealing with Russian oil.
The US leader later turned his ire on Zelenskyy, warning him Ukraine would have “big problems” if it got cold feet over a deal to sign over mineral rights to the United States.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Kremlin on Monday said that Putin was still open to speaking to Trump.
There was no phone call scheduled between the two leaders, but that one could be “organized promptly,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We are… working on implementing some ideas, linked to resolving the Ukrainian (conflict),” Peskov said. “This process is time-consuming.”