Trump Frustrated After Thinking He Made Headway On Russia-Ukraine Talks Only To See Putin Balk

Washington (AP) – US President Donald Trump He declared a diplomatic breakthrough in the week offer To produce Moscow and Kiev Closer to peace, announcing that it has started Editing for direct interviews Between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Four days later, the optimism of the Republican President decreased. Russia’s best diplomat on Friday, Putin’s Ukrainians will not meet with Zelenskyy until Moscow’s demands to end the conflict.

A stinging decline for Trump, which resulted in an indisputable momentum to stop a conflict that he swears as a candidate to end the first day in the office.

Trump said on Friday that he expects to decide on his next actions within two weeks if direct talks were not held. It has increased the likelihood of implementing new sanctions or tariffs to Russia, a threat that he had swim before but did not follow.

Ov We will see if there is a meeting, ”he said. “It will be interesting to see. If they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting, because I told them to have a meeting. But I will know what to do in two weeks.”

Trump announced on Monday. He started to make arrangements In addition to talks with the White House, Zelenskyy and European leaders, for the Putin-Zelenskyy meeting immediately after talking to Putin.

When European leaders made uncertain promises to support European security guarantees for Ukraine after war, they applauded the tone of the president at the White House meeting.

Trump also alleviated the European anxiety with increasing interpretations after that. Alaska Summit with Putin Days ago, it seemed that the Russian leader was leaning towards Ukraine’s request to quit the land seized by Russia. After the European leaders announced their plans for direct talks, they proposed optimism protected because Trump advanced and then made three -way negotiations that contain potentially it.

In recent days, however, Putin’s Russian officials have increased uncertainty about Trump’s commitment to peace of mind because they objected to the cornerstones of the newly emerging proposals on the negotiation desk.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is ready to meet with Zelenskyy to discuss peace terms, but only after the first key issues were made by senior authorities. This may include a long -term negotiation process because the two sides To leave.

“There is no planned meeting,” he said in a banded interview with NBC’s Sunday Show for “Kristen Welker. “Putin is ready to meet Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all.”

Ukraine wants Western security guarantees to deterd the post -war Russian attacks, and the US and European authorities are trying to find detailed suggestions on how it can work. However, Lavrov said it was meaningless to make security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s participation at the beginning of this week.

Meanwhile, Putin visited Sarov, a closed city, a base for Russia’s nuclear weapon program since the late 1940s, about 370 kilometers (230 miles) of Moscow on Friday. The visit presented a reminder that Russia is one of the world’s leading nuclear powers in the world.

Nigel Gould-Davies, the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London and former British Ambassador Belarus Ambassador Nigel Gould-Davies, said, “He did not control his position significantly.”

Even if Trump started the peace talks plan, Russia started on Thursday One of the biggest air strikes This year, 574 drones and 40 ballistic and navigation missiles are focused on Western Ukraine in the dam.

Zelenskyy, together with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who visited Kiev on Friday, said, “The Russians are trying to do everything to avoid the meeting. The issue is not the meeting itself, but they do not want to end the war war.”

Rutte said that Trump wanted to be engaged in Putin with Putin to çıkan Breaking locking ”and providing security guarantees for Ukraine.

Rutte announced that the guarantees discussed will be two “layers .. First, it would take place after a peace agreement or long -term ceasefire, and focused on making Ukrainian armed forces as “as strong as possible”. Second, it will include security commitments provided by Europe and the USA.

The European Union Foreign Policy Chief said on Friday that Ukraine’s possibility of being a land to Russia as part of the peace agreement to end its three -year wars is a “trap” determined by Putin.

Russian leader demanding ukraine privileges Kaja Kallas, in exchange for the stopping of the occupation of the army, but to give him these demands, the war that began the war, he said.

In an interview with the BBC, Kallas said, “The exact trap that Russia wants us to enter,” he said.

“I mean, we forget what Ukraine should give up, what Ukraine wants to do, and the discussion about the concessions that Russia does not have a single privilege and that they are aggressive, they are brutally attacking and killing people.”

“Russia is just dragging feet. It is clear that Russia does not want peace, Kal Kallas said. “President Trump says he should stop killing many times and Putin just laughs, did not stop killing, but increases killing.”

Emma Burrows, the Associated Press writer in London, contributed.