United States President Donald Trump has blamed Ukraine for the ongoing war with Russia, suggesting that the country “could have made a deal” before the conflict began.
His comments follow Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement expressing “surprise” over Ukraine’s exclusion from recent peace talks in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Trump was asked about Ukraine’s absence from the discussions. “I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat, well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily,” he said. He later added, “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
The war in Ukraine was triggered by a full-scale Russian invasion nearly three years ago. However, Trump claimed that he could have secured an agreement before the conflict erupted.
“I could have made a deal for Ukraine,” he said. “That would have given them almost all of the land, everything, almost all of the land – and no people would have killed, and no city would have been demolished.”
His remarks came after high-level discussions between US and Russian officials in Riyadh, marking the first known face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the war began.
The meeting involved US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, alongside Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Following the talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s stance against NATO peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, stating, “Any appearance by armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is of course completely unacceptable.”
He also confirmed that the US and Russia had agreed to appoint ambassadors and work towards restoring full diplomatic cooperation.
Rubio, meanwhile, said he was “convinced” that Russia was “willing to begin to engage in a serious process” to end the war. “There has to be concessions made by all sides. We’re not going to predetermine what those are,” he said, calling the meeting “the first step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one.”
Trump, reflecting on the discussions, expressed optimism. “They were very good. Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism,” he said. “I think I have the power to end this war.”
Asked about European nations potentially sending troops to Ukraine, Trump responded, “If they want to do that, that’s great, I’m all for it.”
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