President Donald Trump recommended that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky nominate someone else to negotiate a peace deal with Russia.
Trump made the recommendation Monday as he departed the White House for a campaign rally in Kansas. The comments came in response to a question about Zelensky saying Trump is on the “wrong side of history” for Washington’s approach to peace talks.
“Zelensky doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Trump said. “Zelensky 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, and he’d have a million people living from his side.”
“To be honest, I think that it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” the president added. “Maybe it’s time for Zelensky to get somebody else to negotiate.”
Trump defended his decision to strike a diesel deal with Russia and ease sanctions on Moscow, despite criticism from Republicans that he is siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Zelensky.
“I’m trying to get a hostage,” Trump said. “We also have a very good situation with respect to Iran [and Russia]. [Putin’s] laying off Iran. It’s nice because we’re hitting Iran very hard, as you know, economically as well as militarily, and Russia has done nothing there that we can see. I think that’s very positive, and of course we’re negotiating with him on Ukraine.”
He continued, “I’m supporting stopping war between Russia and Ukraine … Frankly, Zelensky is not helping matters much. I think he doesn’t want to stop it, but I want to see people not die.”
At the same time, Trump downplayed speculation of a trilateral meeting between him, Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping when he travels to China in November. Trump also said a separate sit-down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un might not be in the books.
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“We would have him to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” he said of the Putin-Xi summit, adding that trade would be on the agenda as well. “It’ll take about probably five years. We would schedule a meeting based on the denuclearization, and that’s a very positive thing for the world.”
On whether he would use that opportunity to talk with Putin about Ukraine without Zelensky, Trump said he would do “anything … to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
