The US president has said he wants to gauge the approaches both Moscow and Kiev take toward peace before deciding on his next move
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he will announce a major decision on the Ukraine conflict within the next two weeks, adding that the step will depend on the positions of both Moscow and Kiev.
Trump has been pressing for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky since meeting them in Alaska and Washington respectively.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: “I think over the next two weeks, we’re going to find out which way it’s going to go.”
Asked about the time frame, he explained he expects clarity soon on whether Russia and Ukraine will engage in direct talks. “We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting … But I’ll know in two weeks what I’m going to do. It’s going to be a very important decision.”
Trump said he would then decide whether to impose “massive sanctions” or tariffs, or “do nothing and say it’s your fight.”
The US president previously suggested a possible three-way summit could follow a Putin-Zelensky meeting, adding that the Ukrainian leader “has to show some flexibility.”
On Thursday, however, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said Kiev has shown no interest in a sustainable peace. He cited comments from Zelensky aide Mikhail Podoliak, who said Ukraine will seek to regain any territories “de facto” left to Russia in a peace deal and pursue joining a military alliance, even if not NATO.
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Lavrov said these goals run counter to the joint peace efforts being undertaken by Putin and Trump.
Moscow has long insisted on a peace agreement that eradicates the underlying causes of the conflict. It has demanded that Ukraine maintain neutrality, stay out of NATO and other military blocs, demilitarize and denazify, as well as accept the new territorial reality.
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