Trump Says Ukraine Needs New Negotiator, Blasts Zelenskyy
Speaking to reporters before leaving the White House to campaign in Kansas ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm congressional elections, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of dragging out the war.
“Zelenskyy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Zelenskyy is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. If he would have listened to me, he would have made a much better deal a long time ago,”
Trump went on to question whether Kyiv’s current leadership should be at the table at all.
“I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine because what’s happened? A tremendous number of people are dead. They’re losing their male population,” he said.
“Maybe it’s time for Zelenskyy to get somebody else to negotiate,” Trump added.
“Zelenskyy is not helping matters much. I think he doesn’t want to stop it, but I want to see people not die.”
“We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. They’ve given us nothing,” he added.
Open to summit with Putin and Xi
Asked whether he had agreed to a trilateral meeting on Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he had not, but signaled he was willing.
“No, but I would do it. Not so much for Ukraine because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine,” he said.
Trump indicated nuclear arms control would be a priority at any such gathering.
“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” he said.
“We have more nuclear weapons than anybody. Russia is second, China is third, but catching up. China was way behind, and now they’re catching up. It’ll take about probably five years,” Trump added.
Pressed on whether he would meet Putin and Xi to discuss ending the war without Zelenskyy in the room, Trump said he would do “anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not.”
A major US newspaper reported Sunday that Putin had proposed a trilateral meeting next month with Trump and Xi to discuss the war and pursue an end to the conflict on terms favorable to Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper that discussions were underway, but that no clear understanding yet existed on the meeting or its agenda. He said all three sides acknowledged the “hypothetical possibility” of such a meeting.
The report followed Trump’s announcement of a deal to buy Russian diesel fuel and his subsequent signing of an executive order waiving key sanctions on Moscow. Zelenskyy criticized that move.
“Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia, China and Iran
Trump also said Russia and China had offered Iran only limited backing, despite their close ties to Tehran.
“Russia could have done a lot more to help Iran. Russia’s done very little for Iran. China could have done a lot more for Iran,” he said.
“I view that as being a very positive thing,” Trump added.
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