US President Donald Trump accused Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin of “destroying” Russia by refusing to sign a deal to end the war in Ukraine, reiterating that he would likely speak to Putin soon but did not specify a time frame.
"He should make a deal. I think he's destroying Russia by not making a deal," Trump told reporters on January 20 as he arrived at the White House after his inauguration.
"I think Russia is going to be in big trouble. I think he'll be lucky if he ends that war. Most people thought it would be over in a week," Trump stressed.
During a meeting of the Russian Security Council on January 20, Russian President Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's readiness to negotiate peace with the new administration of US President Trump.
Mr Putin stressed that any peaceful solution must be based on “eliminating the root causes” of the conflict, which he said included meeting Russia’s tough demands.
Russia is believed to have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the war in Ukraine, while sacrificing lucrative European gas markets and access to Western financial markets as the ruble has fallen in value. The Kremlin is spending about 40% of its budget on the military and is said to be struggling to contain inflation.
In a statement on January 20, Trump said he would speak with President Putin - whom he has often expressed admiration for - but did not specify when the potential meeting would take place.
"I get along very well with (Putin). I hope he wants to make a deal," Trump said of a possible meeting.
The US president also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said he wanted a peace deal to end the war.
During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. He has walked back those comments in recent weeks but remains committed to ending the war quickly.
Many analysts believe that it will be difficult to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in the near future because Putin believes he is winning on the battlefield and does not want to stop fighting, even though Russia also suffers significant losses in human lives and equipment in this war.
“When the Trump team starts engaging in these kinds of discussions, they will find that getting President Putin to abandon his goal of subjugating all of Ukraine will be the most difficult part of the process,” Mikhail Alexseev, a political science professor at San Diego State University who specializes in Russia and Ukraine, told RFE/RL on January 15.
Mr Alexseev also said Trump would need to continue to provide aid to Ukraine if he really wanted the Russian leader to end the fighting.
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