The US president has said that Kiev has changed its tune since his spat with the Ukrainian leader in the Oval Office
President Donald Trump has said that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has changed his stance and “agreed to peace,” after US and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia and came up with a proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Russia.
Moscow has yet to receive detailed information about Trump’s idea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after a joint US-Ukraine statement on Tuesday indicated that Kiev was prepared to accept a 30-day truce.
Speaking to journalists at the White House on Wednesday, Trump claimed that Ukraine was now willing to negotiate and that “it’s up to Russia now.”
“As you know, I’ve always said that Ukraine might have been the more difficult party. You saw – you were here a week ago – when some interesting things happened,” Trump said, referring to a heated exchange in the Oval Office that ended with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky being asked to leave prematurely.
During that confrontation, Trump criticized Zelensky for a lack of gratitude toward the US and accused him of refusing to pursue a peaceful resolution with Moscow. Shortly afterward, Washington suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Kiev. However, following the talks in Jeddah, the US expressed willingness to resume military assistance.
“I had somebody that didn’t seem to want peace. Now he’s agreed to peace. So we’ll see what happens,” Trump said of Zelensky, who was present in Saudi Arabia but did not personally take part in the negotiations.
Asked on Wednesday whether he would similarly put pressure on Moscow, Trump suggested he could take financial measures that would be “devastating for Russia,” but hoped such actions would not be necessary.
“I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace, and we’re getting close to maybe getting something done,” Trump said. “We’ve had a good relationship with both parties, actually, and we’ll see… [our] people are going to Russia right now as we speak, and hopefully, we can get a ceasefire from Russia. And if we do, I think that would be 80% of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath finished.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will be traveling to Moscow later this week to deliver the US ceasefire proposal.
Meanwhile, Peskov stated that Moscow is “carefully studying” the outcome of the US-Ukraine talks but cautioned against drawing premature conclusions. He emphasized that Russia first needs to receive “detailed information” on the proposed ceasefire.
Russian officials have previously argued that a temporary truce would not resolve the conflict, ainsisting that the root problems must be addressed instead. Moscow has suggested that any pause in hostilities would only allow Kiev and its backers to rearm and get ready for a new round of fighting.
