United States President-elect Donald Trump said he is preparing a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. “He wants us to meet, and we are organizing that,” Trump said on Thursday, before a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, in the state of Florida (southeast).
“President Putin wants us to meet, he even said so publicly, and we need to end this war, which is a real waste,” added the tycoon.
During an annual televised question-and-answer session on December 19, Putin said he was ready to meet Trump “at any time.” “If we ever meet President-elect Trump, I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about,” he said.
Trump promised during the election campaign to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” and has already called for an “immediate ceasefire” and peace negotiations.
Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “it is clear that in 11 days a new chapter begins for Europe and the entire world,” referring to Trump’s inauguration, scheduled for January 20. “We have to cooperate even more, trust each other even more and achieve greater results together”, highlighted Zelensky.
The Ukrainian head of state considered that “it would be madness” to let the coalitions established since the beginning of the conflict with allied countries collapse and defended the presence of Western soldiers on Ukrainian territory to “force Russia to peace”.
“We’ve come such a long way that, honestly, it would be crazy to drop the ball now and not continue to build the advocacy coalitions we’ve created, especially as they help us grow and strengthen what is essentially our shared advocacy power. “, defended Zelensky, at the opening of the 25th meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, which took place at the American air base in Ramstein, Germany.
The Ukrainian President was speaking alongside the United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, who presides over the work of this coalition of more than 50 countries created in 2022 and which aims to coordinate support for Ukraine, in the wake of the Russian invasion, in February 2022 .
Austin announced a new US aid package for Ukraine worth 500 million dollars (485 million euros), 11 days before Donald Trump takes office.
According to the former US general from Joe Biden’s administration, this new package includes “additional missiles for Ukrainian air defense, more ammunition, more air-to-ground ammunition and equipment to support Ukraine’s F-16s.”
Source: expresso.pt
