Putin ally claims deal to end Ukraine war ‘close’ after Trump meeting cancelled | World | News
A breakthrough to end the war in Ukraine is near, a senior Kremlin official has suggested. Kirill Dmitriev said he believed Russia, Ukraine and the United States were “pretty close” to reaching an agreement to end the large-scale conflict approaching its fifth year.
This comes just days after Donald Trump canceled face-to-face meetings with Vladimir Putin in Hungary, claiming he did not want to have a “wasted meeting”. Mr. Dmitriev, the Russian president’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said the meeting had not been canceled and stressed that the leaders were expected to meet at a later date. Speaking on Friday, he said: “I believe that Russia, the United States and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution.”
Mr. Dmitriev was speaking CNN After arriving in Washington ahead of meetings with US officials.
Reports suggest that he will meet the US President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Florida on Saturday.
Mr. Trump has become increasingly frustrated, particularly with Russia, over the slow progress of Ukrainian peace talks.
He questioned whether the Russian president really wanted to end the war and imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies in a major policy shift on Wednesday.
Mr. Trump suggested stopping the war on current fronts.
Europe has backed the idea, as has Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called it a “good compromise.”
“It’s a big move for President Zelensky to admit that this is about battle lines,” Mr. Dmitriev told CNN.
“You know, his previous position was for a complete Russian withdrawal, so I think we’re actually pretty close to a diplomatic solution that can be resolved.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, an ally of both Trump and Putin, said Saturday that the canceled meeting between the two leaders in Budapest would eventually go ahead.
“The timing is uncertain, but it will happen,” he said.
Mr. Trump said earlier this week that he decided to cancel the talks “because it didn’t feel right.”
Expressing his disappointment, the US President said, “It didn’t feel like we would reach the point we needed to reach, so I canceled it, but we will do it in the future.”
“Every time I talk to Vladimir I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere. They don’t go anywhere.”
On Saturday, he said he would meet with Mr. Putin only if he knew an agreement could be reached.
Officials said that at least four people were killed and 20 people were injured in Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine overnight.
