President Donald Trump said he’s getting word that conversations about a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia are “going OK” in Moscow.
Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Thursday to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war, trade, and defense production.
“At this moment, we have people talking in Russia,” Trump said. “We have representatives over there, [Special Envoy to Ukraine] Steve Witkoff and others. They’re in very serious discussions. As you know, Ukraine has agreed subject to this, what’s happening today, to a complete ceasefire, and we hope Russia will do the same.”
The president said the war has been “a tremendous cost to the United States and other countries” and has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives.
“Thousands of young people are being killed a week,” he said, “and we want to see that stop.”
Rutte has been doing “good work” in negotiating an end to the war, Trump said.
Trump said the U.S. has been discussing with Ukraine “pieces of land that would be kept and lost, and all of the other elements of a final agreement.” A power plant is involved, he added.
“It’s not an easy process, but phase one is the ceasefire,” he said. “A lot of the individual subjects have been discussed, though, you know, we’ve been discussing concepts of land, because you don’t want to waste time with a ceasefire if it’s not going to mean anything.”
If Russia is not willing to agree to the peace deal, it will be “very disappointing” to the world, Trump said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Petrov said Russia was “scrutinizing” the publicly released statements. Russia “doesn’t want to get ahead of itself” on a potential ceasefire, he said.
Trump would love to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said, urging an immediate end to the war to stop the killing.
“I’d love to meet with him and talk to him,” he said, “but we have to get it over with fast.”
