Trump says ‘nothing’s going to happen’ on Ukraine until he meets Putin
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US President Donald Trump (right) insisted on the importance of meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
PHOTO: AFP
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US President Donald Trump said on May 15 that he did not expect progress on Ukraine until he meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who did not show up for talks with Kyiv in Turkey.
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates.
“But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Ankara on May 15 after daring Mr Putin to show up
Mr Putin had proposed direct talks, the first since the immediate aftermath of his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Russia sent a lower-level delegation.
Asked if he was disappointed about the Russian level of attendance, Mr Trump said: “I haven’t even checked.”
“Obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Mr Trump said of Mr Putin.
“He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there.”
Mr Trump has repeatedly said he was willing to travel to Turkey to join the talks but has not done so, although Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed there.
Mr Trump’s insistence on the importance of meeting Mr Putin, for whom he has voiced admiration in the past, stands in sharp contrast to the stance of former US president Joe Biden, who insisted only Ukraine itself should negotiate on its future. AFP
