Donald Trump said he will receive Volodimir Zelensky next week and talk on the phone with Vladimir Putin
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced Friday that next week he will receive his Ukrainian counterpart in the White House, Volodimir Zelenskyand will speak with the Russian president, Vladimir Putinin an attempt to end war in Ukraine.
“I will probably meet with President Zelenski next week and I will also talk to President Putin. I would like that war to end, ”Trump said in statements to the press in the Oval Office, where he met with Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.
In turn, Zelensky said Friday that Washington and kyiv were planning “conversations”, after Trump pointed out a possible meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
“We always appreciate working with President Trump. We are also planning meetings and conversations at team level. Right now Ukrainian and American teams are specifying the details”Zelensky said in a post in X, Without confirming If a meeting with Trump would be held.
The last time Trump met with Zelensky was in December in Paris, in a meeting three sponsored by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Trump had not yet taken office, but served as elected president after winning the elections before the Democrat Kamala Harris.
Regarding Putin, he said that both have always had a good relationship. “
“Putin and I have always maintained a good relationship. That is why it is so sad that this (war) has happened. This would never have happened if I had been president, ”said the US president.
“So many dead people and so many cities destroyed. We talk about Gaza, but let’s look at Ukraine. Many of those cities are simple rubble. It is so sad, it should never have happened. All those beautiful golden domes, but most importantly, all those beautiful people dead. He should never have passed, ”he added.
Trump said this week that he wants Ukraine to deliver to the United States Rare Lands – Key Minerals for Technological Innovations ranging from electric vehicles and wind turbines to state -of -the -art aircraft – in exchange for the help that Washington is providing.
He has also threatened Moscow with tariffs and more sanctions, as well as promoting a decrease in oil prices if he continues with war.
Trump advocated before his arrival at the White House on January 20 for ending the conflict in Ukraine immediately, something he has not achieved at the moment.
Russia claimed this Friday the taking of the Mining City of Toretsk, in eastern Ukraine, An important victory for Russian troops after months of fighting.
Ukraine denied the fact that Russian troops control the town, located in the Donetsk region and that before the Russian invasion Three years ago I had about 30,000 inhabitants.
The Kremlin has been gaining ground for more than a year in this industrial region, where dozens of cities and towns, most of them abandoned.
Controling Toretsk will allow Russian troops to hinder the supply of the Ukrainian army and advance further to the north, military analysts indicated.
Toretsk, known as Dzerzhinsk in Russian, is the largest settlement that Moscow claims to have captured since the taking of Avdiivka at the end of February 2024, almost a year ago.
“The offensive operations (…) allowed to release the city of Dzerzhinsk,” said Russian Ministry of Defense.
A press manager of the 28th Ukrainian Brigade, who was struggling for the control of Toretsk, said that the Ukrainian forces still maintain positions on the outskirts of the city.
Toretsk was the target of Russian assaults since last summer.
AFP journalists visited the place in the late 2024 and saw a city devastated by fighting.
Some retirees took refuge in their basements, unable or reluctant to leave the place despite the constant bombings.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
