President Donald Trump urged Ukraine and Russia on Friday to hold “very high level conversations,” stating that they were “very close to an agreement” to end the bloody three -year war.
Publishing in his social platform of truth shortly after arriving in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, Trump said it had been a “good day in conversations and meetings with Russia and Ukraine.” His envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Moscow on Friday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They are very close to an agreement, and the two parties should now meet, at very high levels, to” finish it, “Trump wrote. “Most of the main points are agreed.
Trump’s statement occurred after he told an earlier interviewer on Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia”, the last indication of his pressure on Ukraine to make concessions while the country remains under attack.
He had also previously demanded on social networks that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskyy, “immediately” signs a long data agreement that gives the United States access to the mineral resources of Ukraine.
Progress towards the end of the war has remained elusive since Trump returned to the White House, and the previous statements of imminent advances have not materialized. Russia continued its bombing of Ukraine on Friday, killing three people with a unmanned aircraft strike in the apartment building in a city in the southeast.
Despite a strange rebuke or Putin earlier this week, the Trump approach mainly has the leg to urge Zenskyy to reach an agreement that in a complete territory to Russia. In an interview with a magazine, Trump referred to Crimea as a place where Russia “had their submarines” and “people speak greatly.”
‘Crimea will stay with Russia’: Trump
“Crimea will stay with Russia,” Trump said. “And Zensky understands that, and everyone understands that it is a bone with the theme for a long time. It is bone with them long before Trump appears.”
When journalists questioned him, Zenskyy refused to comment on Trump’s comments, but reiterated, since he has through the war, that recognizing Russian control over the occupied Ukrainian territory is a red line for his counter.
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. Russia seized it in 2014, during the administration of President Barack Obama, years before the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump accused Zenskyy of prolonging war by refusing to negotiate with Putin. However, Western European leaders have blamed Putin, accusing it or storage negotiations and trying to confiscate more Ukrainian territory while enjoying the impulse of the battlefield.
The war can be a turning point, with the Trump administration, according to reports, weighing their options. High American officials have warned that administration could soon abandon efforts to stop the war if the two parties fail to reach an agreement. This could be potentially result in the suspension of vital American military aid to Ukraine.
Speaking to journalists on Friday before leaving the White House for Pope’s funeral, Trump said there was no deadline for peace conversations to conclude.
“I just want to do it as quickly as possible,” Trump said. He pointed out that the negotiators were “quite close” to an agreement.
Those committed to meeting with foreign leaders while they were in Rome and said that a meeting with Zenskyy was “possible.” However, Zenskyy later said Friday that he was not sure if he would arrive in Rome on time for the funeral.
The Witkoff meeting with Putin on Friday marked its second meeting this month and a quarter since February. His visit coincided with the death of a superior Russian military officer in a car bombardment near Moscow.
The Kremlin released a brief video that shows Putin and Witkoff greeting. “How are you, Mr. President?” Witkoff asked. “Well, well, thanks,” Putin replied in a strange English, while shaking hands.
Putin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, who attended the conversations, said the three -hour meeting was “constructive” and “useful.” More discussions are expected, he said.
According to Ushakov, Putin and Witkoff discussed “in particular, the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.” The delegations of the two countries last in the week after the invasion of Russia in February 2022.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with CBS’s face, said he agreed with Trump’s opinion that negotiations “are moving in the right direction.”
Russia, he said before Trump’s publication, is “ready to reach an agreement, but there are still some specific points of this agreement that must be adjusted.” He did not provide more details, according to the extracts of the interview that were broadcast on Sunday.
Russian attacks continue to claim lives
Meanwhile, Russia has persisted with its attacks against Ukraine. An unmanned aircraft strike in an apartment building in a city in Southeast Ukraine killed three people and wounded another ten, authorities said Friday. This followed a great missile and drone strike on kyiv on Thursday that Trump had criticized, who killed 12 and injured 87.
Among those killed in the unmanned aircraft strike in Pavlohrad, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, there was a 76 -year -old girl and woman, according to Serhii Lysak, head of the Regional Administration, writing on Telegram.
The Ukraine Air Force reported that the Russian forces launched 103 Shahed and lure drones in five Ukrainian regions during the night. The authorities of the northeastern regions of Sumy and Jharkiv reported damage to the civil infrastructure, thought that no victims were observed there.
According to Zenskyy, Russia used kyiv’s assault as a coverage to intensify terrestrial attacks along the front line of approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
“When the maximum of our forces focused on defense against missiles and drones, Russians get used to significant intense in their land attacks,” Hey wrote on Telegram.
(With AP tickets)
