Trump advises Ukraine’s Zelensky to ‘make a deal’ with Russia after meeting Putin

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Aug 15 advised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

He made the comments on Fox News following

a near three-hour summit

with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where they did not reach an agreement to resolve Moscow’s war in Ukraine although the US leader characterised the meeting as “very productive”.

When asked about his advice to Mr Zelensky, Mr Trump, who has since left Alaska, said: “Gotta make a deal. Yeah. Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not. They’re great soldiers.”

He also said that Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin were going to set up a meeting to try to reach a ceasefire.

“Now, it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it’s up to President Zelensky... And if they’d like, I’ll be at that next meeting,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity after meeting Mr Putin in Alaska.

“They’re going to set up a meeting now between President Zelensky and President Putin and myself, I guess.”

However, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Aug 16 that the question of a three-way summit between the Russian, US and Ukrainian presidents had not been discussed, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

Mr Ushakov said he did not know yet when Mr Putin and Mr Trump would meet again following the summit in Alaska. 

Mr Trump added that he will not have to think of retaliatory tariffs on countries buying Russian oil right now but may have to “in two or three weeks”.

“Well, because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

“Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well.” 

It was not clear whether the talks had produced meaningful steps toward a ceasefire in the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years, a goal that Mr Trump had set at the outset. But the US leader told Fox News that he gave “today a 10” on a scale of one to 10.

At the joint press conference in Alaska, he had said: “There were many, many points that we agreed on.

“I would say a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway. So there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

He and Mr Putin each spoke for a few minutes to reporters and took no questions.

In brief remarks, Mr Putin said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to accept the results of the US-Russia negotiation constructively.

He said Moscow expected “that Kyiv and the European capitals will perceive all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles, will not make attempts to disrupt the emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigues”.

Speaking about Ukraine, he said Russia was “sincerely interested in putting an end” to the conflict in Ukraine but called for Russia’s “legitimate concerns” to be taken into account.

“I have said more than once that for Russia, the events in Ukraine are associated with fundamental threats to our national security,” Mr Putin said.

He added that “a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and in the world as a whole must be restored”.

There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv.

But Ukraine’s opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said on the Telegram messaging app: “It seems Putin has bought himself more time. No ceasefire or de-escalation has been agreed upon.”

Mr Putin also said he hoped that agreements reached at the summit could be a launchpad for settling the Ukraine conflict and restoring ties between Russia and the US.

“I expect that today’s agreements will become a reference point, not only for solving the Ukrainian problem, but will also launch the restoration of business-like, pragmatic relations between Russia and the United States,” he said.

He said there was enormous potential for the two countries to build a business and investment partnership in areas such as energy, technology and space exploration, and in the Arctic.

“I have every reason to believe that by moving along this path, we can reach an end to the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible,” he said, without specifying what the two sides had agreed on.

As Mr Trump and Mr Putin were talking, the war raged on, with most eastern Ukrainian regions under air raid alerts. Governors of Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions reported that some of their territories were under Ukrainian drone attacks.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement that he welcomed Mr Trump’s efforts but doubted Mr Putin’s interest in a deal.

“If Putin were serious about negotiating peace, he would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today,” he said.

Conversation ‘very positive’

The Kremlin spokesman later said that the talks allowed the countries to continue seeking ways for settlement, the Interfax news agency reported on Aug 16.

“The conversation was indeed very positive, and the two presidents spoke about this. This is the very conversation that allows us to confidently move forward together along the path of searching for settlement options,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He did not elaborate which settlement he meant.

‘Next time in Moscow’

Mr Putin, whose plane left the airbase shortly after the press conference, also offered to host Mr Trump in Moscow, extending the apparent invitation during the press conference.

“Next time in Moscow,” the Russian leader told Mr Trump in English after the US president thanked him and said he would “probably see you again very soon”.

“Oh, that’s an interesting one,” Mr Trump responded. “I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.”

‘Pursuing peace’

Mr Trump and Mr Putin, along with top foreign-policy aides, conferred in a room at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska in their first meeting since 2019. A blue backdrop behind them had the words “Pursuing Peace” printed on it.

Mr Trump’s publicly stated aim for the talks was to secure a halt to the fighting and a commitment by Mr Putin to meet swiftly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate an end to the war, which began when

Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

Mr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the summit, and his European allies had feared Mr Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine.

Mr Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial concessions.

“I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I’m here to get them at a table,” he said.

Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly ... I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today ... I want the killing to stop.”

Mr Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States.

Mr Trump said he would call Mr Zelensky and Nato leaders to update them on the talks with Putin.

Rolling out the red carpet

Once on the ground in Alaska, Mr Trump greeted Mr Putin on a red carpet on the base’s tarmac. The two shook hands warmly and touched each other on the arm before riding in Mr Trump’s limousine to the summit site nearby.

Mr Trump hopes a truce in the 3½-year-old war that Mr Putin started will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

For Mr Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the high table of international diplomacy.

Mr Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court,

accused of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia denies the allegations, and the Kremlin has dismissed the ICC warrant as null and void. Russia and the United States are not members of the court.

Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority Ukrainian.

A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the war in Ukraine - from both sides combined - totals 1.2 million people, Mr Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said three months ago.

The meeting also included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Mr Trump’s special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff; Russian foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov; and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Mr Trump, who once said he would end Russia’s war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Aug 14 that it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said if the Aug 15 talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Mr Zelensky would be more important than his encounter with Mr Putin.

Mr Zelensky said the Aug 15 summit should open the way for a “just peace” and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another.

“It’s time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. REUTERS, AFP