President Donald Trump outlined his plans to end the Russo-Ukrainian War during a press gaggle on Sunday, expressing confidence that the leaders of both nations “want to stop fighting.”
Speaking on the tarmac at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, Trump stated that he is actively working on “trying to get peace with Russia, Ukraine.”
“And we’re working very hard on it,” he said, as reported by Fox News. “It’s a war that should have never started.”
When asked whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be involved in the conversations, Trump confirmed that he would be. “He will be involved, yes,” Trump said.
When asked by a reporter, Trump confirmed that he would permit European nations to purchase American-made weapons that had been designated for Ukraine.
The Republican president also stated that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin—who initiated the conflict with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and escalated it with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022—now wants to bring the war to an end.
“I think he wants to stop fighting,” Trump said. “They have a big, powerful machine, you understand that? And they defeated Hitler, and they defeated Napoleon. You know, he’s been fighting a long time…I think he would like to stop fighting.”
He added: “Zelenskyy wants to end it, too.”
Negotiations between the U.S. and Russia are set to begin in Saudi Arabia this week, though earlier reports indicated that Ukraine would not be directly involved.
Trump’s National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, stated on Fox News Sunday that the talks will focus on “key tenets” aimed at securing a “permanent end to the war.”
“The United States and Europe have supported [the Ukrainian] effort, but the United States unquestionably has borne the brunt of that support over the years, but now President Trump is clear it needs to come to an end,” Waltz said Sunday.
Trump’s remarks came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s interview on Meet the Press aired on NBC, where Zelenskyy discussed Putin and claimed that the Russian leader “fears” Trump.
“I said that [Putin] is a liar,” Zelenskyy said of a recent phone call to Trump. “And he said, ‘I think my feeling is that he’s ready for these negotiations.’ And I said to him, ‘No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace.’”
“But I think he’s really a little bit scared about the President Trump,” Zelenskyy added, according to Fox. “And I think the president has this chance, and he’s strong. And I think that really, he can push Putin to peace negotiations. Yes, I think so. I think he can, but don’t trust him. Don’t trust Putin. Don’t trust just words about ceasefire.”
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said the president wanted positive talks between Russia and Ukraine but noted that the U.S. had a “range of options” should Putin fail to show up at the negotiating table with a deal guaranteeing peace for Ukraine.
Vance made it clear in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Trump was determined to make a peace deal in Ukraine and that there would be incentives on the table for Russia to cooperate.
“If you look at President Trump’s approach to this, the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There are, of course, military tools of leverage. There’s a whole host of things that we could do. But fundamentally, I think the President wants to have a productive negotiation, both with Putin and with Zelenskyy,” Vance told The Journal.
“I think there is a deal that is going to come out of this that’s going to shock a lot of people,” Vance added.
