With lower oil prices, Putin is more eager to settle Ukraine war, says Trump
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US President Donald Trump (left) noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a three-day ceasefire to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War II.
PHOTOS: AFP, REUTERS
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MOSCOW - US President Donald Trump said Moscow and Kyiv want to settle the war in Ukraine, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin was more inclined towards peace after the recent fall in the price of oil.
“I think Russia with the price of oil right now, oil has gone down, we are in a good position to settle, they want to settle. Ukraine wants to settle,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on May 5.
The price of oil – which drives the Russian economy – has fallen by around US$15 (S$19.40) a barrel since the start of the year.
Opec+ will accelerate oil output hikes, sources told Reuters.
“We’ve come a long way, and it could be something will happen... hopefully it will,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed or injured, and Mr Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the “bloodbath” that his administration casts as a proxy war between the US and Russia.
He noted that Mr Putin had proposed a three-day ceasefire
“As you know, President Putin just announced a three-day ceasefire – which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot if you knew where we started from,” Mr Trump said. “This is a war that should never have happened.”
He said the number of those killed in the war was far higher than reported by most media organisations. Neither side in the war publishes up-to-date casualty figures.
The Kremlin, asked on May 5 about a possible meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin in Saudi Arabia, said a meeting was necessary, but that Mr Putin had no trips to the Middle East planned for mid-May.
Mr Trump has said he plans to visit Saudi Arabia as early as May.
He was asked by a reporter about whether or not he would order an investigation into the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022.
A sharp pressure drop in the pipelines under the Baltic Sea was registered on Sept 26, 2022, and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about who sabotaged the multibillion-dollar project that carried Russian gas to Germany.
“They said Russia blew it up – yeah,” Mr Trump said in comments that indicated he doubted that Moscow was behind the attack. “I think a lot of people know who blew it up.”
The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have reported that Ukraine – which has repeatedly denied its involvement – was behind the attack.
Russia has accused Western powers, including the United States and Britain, of being involved in the attack, but has published no evidence to support its theory. REUTERS
