Latest news with #UKRAINIANPRESIDENTIALPRESSSERVICE
New York Post
11-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump urges Ukraine to accept peace talks with Putin ‘immediately' — without cease-fire
President Trump on Sunday urged Ukraine to 'immediately' meet with Russia for peace talks without first securing a cease-fire deal — just as Vladimir Putin has suggested. The Russian president has proposed direct talks with Kyiv on Thursday in Turkey aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, which has spanned for more than three years since the Kremlin's invasion. 'Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly! 4 President Trump on Sunday called on Ukraine to 'immediately' agree to meet with Russian negotiators without conditions. REUTERS 4 Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to engage in peace talks with Ukraine this week without first securing a cease-fire agreement. via REUTERS 'I'm starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin, who's too busy celebrating the Victory of World War ll, which could not have been won (not even close!) without the United States of America. HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!.' the president added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded online that he is open to holding the powow with Moscow, but he showed trepidation given Putin's repeated refusal to make any concessions in the stalled peace talks brokered by the US. Zelensky and his officials stressed that a cease-fire needs to be reached first and foremost before any talks could commence between Kyiv and Moscow. 'We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings,' Zelensky wrote in the statement. 4 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky maintains that a cease-fire should go into effect before the two sides meet. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images 'And I will be waiting for Putin in Turkey on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses,' he said. Ukraine's position was backed by Zelensky's western allies, including Trump's own special envoy to Kyiv, Keith Kellogg. 'An unconditional ceasefire first and, during it, move into comprehensive peace discussions. Not the other way round,' Kellogg wrote on X after Putin's proposal. 4 Ukrainian first responders work to put out a blaze in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian drone strike last week. REUTERS French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin's sudden push for peace talks without a cease-fire was proof that he was stalling and 'looking for a way out' after sanction threats from the West. Putin issued his proposal a day after Trump and European leaders threatened 'massive sanctions' if Russia didn't agree to a 30-day truce by Monday. Zelensky said the cease-fire must be 'full and unconditional' or else the European allies would slap additional energy and banking sanctions on Moscow.
eNCA
28-04-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Trump thinks Zelenskyy ready to give up Crimea to Russia
USA - US President Donald Trump said he believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ready to concede Crimea to Russia as part of any ceasefire deal, as talks on a truce entered what Washington called a critical week on Monday. Trump also stepped up pressure on Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian president should "stop shooting" and sign an agreement to end the grinding war that started with Moscow's February 2022 invasion. Trump's comments came a day after he met Zelenskyy during the funeral of Pope Francis, breaking the ice after a major row between the US and Ukrainian leaders at the White House in February. "Oh, I think so," Trump told reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, when asked whether he thought Zelensky was ready to "give up" Crimea - despite the Ukrainian president repeatedly saying he never would. Trump added that during their talks in the Vatican they had "briefly" discussed the fate of the Black Sea peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. AFP | Tetiana DZHAFAROVA The 78-year-old US president, who boasted before his inauguration that he could halt Russia's invasion of Ukraine within one day, launched a diplomatic offensive to stop the fighting after taking office in January. Kyiv and western allies have feared that Trump was pivoting towards Moscow's position. But the US leader has appeared increasingly impatient with Putin in recent days. Russia launched drone and missile attacks the night after the Vatican talks, killing four people in regions across eastern Ukraine and wounding more than a dozen. - 'Stop shooting' - "I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal," Trump said Sunday when asked what he wanted from Putin. "We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it." The White House has said that without rapid progress, it could walk away from its role as a broker. Trump indicated that he would give the process "two weeks." UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP | Handout US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier Sunday stressed the importance of the week ahead. "We're close, but we're not close enough" to a deal to halt the fighting, Rubio told broadcaster NBC. "I think this is going to be a very critical week." But there is still US frustration with both sides, as the war, which has devastated swaths of eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people, drags on. Ukraine launched a "massive" drone attack on Russia's Bryansk region on Sunday, killing one civilian and injuring another, the regional governor said. Washington has not revealed details of its peace plan, but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea in exchange for an end to hostilities. Russia claims to have annexed four eastern and southern territories of war-battered Ukraine since its full-scale invasion three years ago, despite not having full military control over them. Russia holds about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea. AFP | STRINGER But Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday that Ukraine should not agree to all the steps reportedly set out in the deal proposed by Trump. Kyiv knew a ceasefire "may involve territorial concessions," Pistorius told broadcaster ARD. "But these will certainly not go... as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president." Europe has pushed for a bigger role in the Ukraine talks, with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joining Trump and Zelenskyy briefly for the meeting in Saint Peter's Basilica. Rubio meanwhile had a phone call Sunday with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the foreign ministry in Moscow said. The pair said there were "emerging prerequisites" for starting negotiations towards a long term peace, a statement said. Russia insists on keeping the territory it has taken and demands the demilitarisation of Kyiv, plus an end to western support. In a sign of the war's global dimensions, North Korea on Monday confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia's Kursk region and said its soldiers had helped Moscow reclaim territory there. Moscow over the weekend claimed the "liberation" of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a shock cross-border offensive in August 2024, hoping to use land there as a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine's army was "maintaining our presence on Russian territory." By Danny Kemp With Stanislav Doshchitsyn In Kyiv
Al Bawaba
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
US, Russia hold 'partial ceasefire' talks in Saudi Arabia today
ALBAWABA - Delegations from the United States and Russia are expected to hold talks in Saudi Arabia today, March 24, to discuss a possible "partial ceasefire" in the Ukraine war. This comes a day after officials from the US and Ukraine held also talks about the war in Kyiv which started back in February 2022. US President Donald Trump has since been elected as President pushing to reach a peace deal in Ukraine to end the over 3-year war. Yesterday meeting was held between a delegation headed by the Ukraine defence minister Rustem Umerov, and the US team and it was finalized late Sunday night. "The discussion was productive and focused -- we addressed key points including energy," Umerov posted online, saying his country was working to make its goal of a "just and lasting peace" a reality. Ukraine's Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov attends the Ukrainian and US delegations meeting in Jeddah, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) After the meeting with the Ukraine delegation, Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said talks are going in the right direction and that if any partial ceasefire is reached it could pave the way for a "full-on" ceasefire. "I think you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that you'll naturally gravitate to a full-on shooting ceasefire," Witkoff said, according to Fox News.
