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.
