US President Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin is destroying Russia and should conclude a ceasefire agreement.
Donald Trump has officially been inaugurated as the president of the United States and continues to answer questions about how he plans to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine. After his inauguration on January 20, Trump reiterated in the Oval Office the need for a quick end to the war between Russia and Ukraine and announced plans to meet with Putin after the relevant negotiations are established. According to the new owner of the White House, the process is already underway.
Treaty of war
“He (Putin) must conclude an agreement… I think Russia will have big problems… He cannot be delighted, he is not doing so well. I mean, he’s trying, but most people think the war is going to be over in about a week, and now it’s been going on for three years, right?” Trump said, adding that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “also wants to conclude the deal.”
According to Trump, about 1 million Russian soldiers and 700 thousand Ukrainian troops died in Russia’s war against Ukraine. “We have numbers that almost a million Russian soldiers were killed. About 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers died. Russia is bigger, more soldiers are lost, but this is not the way to run a country,” said the President of US. And he added that the length of the war does not show the Russian dictator “in the best light.”
“I think he is destroying Russia by not making a deal… Russia is in big trouble. Look at their economy, look at inflation in Russia. I’m on good terms with Putin, I hope he wants to make a deal,” Trump said.
Are negotiations ongoing?
Marco Rubio, who has been confirmed by the US Senate as US Secretary of State, told reporters that Washington cannot set a deadline for ending the war in Ukraine.
Rubio suggested that each side needs to make concessions, which is a natural part of resolving any conflict.
“Whenever you end a conflict between two parties, neither of which can achieve their highest goal, each side has to give something,” CNN quoted him as saying.
The new Secretary of State did not specify what kind of concessions might be discussed, but noted that the final decision would be made by Russia and Ukraine. Rubio also said ending the war is Trump’s top priority.
“One would hope that some of the preparatory work has been done, but it will be difficult,” he said. “Russia is the aggressor in this war, but this war must be stopped.”
What will Trump press?
Trump said his words about the sorry state of the Russian economy for a reason, experts say. The head of the Trump transition team at the Pentagon and the former head of the US Department of Veterans Affairs during the first Trump administration, Robert Wilkie, in an interview with the BBC, suggested that the US president would put pressure on Putin and Zelensky to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Trump’s first call, according to Robert Wilkie, will be to Vladimir Putin. The expert believes that Trump will make it clear to the Russian president that if Russia refuses to negotiate with Ukraine, the United States will give Zelensky “everything he needs to resist aggression.”
For Zelensky, according to Wilkie, if he refuses to negotiate, Donald Trump will probably say that Kyiv, “in the opinion of the Americans and the Starmer government,” has not done enough to protect its country.
“You do not take the bulk of the population… But unless you fully mobilize all the resources of your country, you cannot ask your friends on the continent or in the United States to do more than you wish to do , ” Wilkie predicted Trump’s position.
Wilkie said Putin needs to carefully assess the consequences of his refusal to negotiate.
“And I’ll tell you why. Because one of the orders being signed as we speak will allow America’s energy potential to be realized. Faucets with liquefied natural gas will be opened and sent to Europe,” said the expert, citing Trump’s decision to lift the moratorium on issuing new licenses for LNG exports from the United States.
In addition, Trump has already promised to significantly increase oil production.
“America’s presence in the global oil market will begin to influence prices. The price of a barrel of oil will drop from $100 to $40, as it is at the end of Trump’s first term. It will destroy the Russian economy and put a huge strain on Putin’s war economy,” said Robert Wilkie.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.