Trump says efforts to contain war in Ukraine ‘under control’

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said efforts to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine from escalating further are “under control”.

He cited his “good” relationships with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as key to negotiating an end to the war. He was speaking in an interview with Outkick, a website that combines sports talk with conservative politics and which is owned by Fox Corp.

“It would be a great thing to be able to stop it,” Mr Trump said in the interview aboard Air Force One on March 22. “I will say this, nobody else would have been able to. Nobody. Zero.”

Mr Trump and Mr Putin spoke in a call on March 18

when the Russian leader said he would be willing to limit attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as a first step but did not agree to the full ceasefire that the US was pushing. A day later,

Mr Zelensky agreed in a call with Mr Trump

to a proposal for a mutual halt to strikes on energy assets.

Mr Trump said he knows Mr Putin “very well”. 

Mr Putin “didn’t invade anything when I was president. He took Crimea, and he took Georgia, when Bush was president, when Obama was president, and he’s trying to take the whole thing,” Mr Trump said.

“I don’t think there’s anybody in the world that could’ve stopped him except me, and I think, I hope I’m going to be able to stop him.” BLOOMBERG