Following what was described as a “lengthy” phone call with President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he will travel to Washington on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. A White House official said Trump has invited European leaders to join the meeting on Monday afternoon.
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday and while Putin mentioned an “agreement” in the post-meeting news conference and Trump said “great progress” was made, there was no mention of a ceasefire.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must make concessions to achieve a peace deal.
“You can’t have a peace agreement unless both sides give and get. You can’t have a peace agreement unless both sides make concessions,” Rubio told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “If not, it’s just called surrender, and neither side is going to surrender, so both sides are going to have to make concessions.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said that despite Trump’s demands for a ceasefire going into the meeting, substantial progress made during the talks eliminated a ceasefire as a preliminary step.
“We made so much progress at this meeting with regard to all the other ingredients necessary for a peace deal that we — that President Trump pivoted to that place,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Trump was active on social media on Sunday morning, suggesting that there is “big progress” being made regarding Russia without providing details.
His post follows his summit in Alaska on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and precedes his upcoming meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders on Monday.
“BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote on social media.
He also expressed disagreement with the media’s portrayal of potential land swaps. Trump claimed that the media would continue to criticize him, even if he achieved a diplomatic victory.
“If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal. That’s why they are the FAKE NEWS! Also, they should talk about the 6 WARS, etc., I JUST STOPPED!!!” he wrote.
President Donald Trump invited European leaders to join his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday afternoon at the White House, a White House official said.
The meeting comes after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
After meeting with President Donald Trump in Alaska, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kremlin officials the summit was “timely and very useful,” saying the two talked about “all aspects of our cooperation” along with a “possible resolution of the Ukrainian crisis on a fair basis.”
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Putin said he and Trump talked about the “genesis and the causes of this crisis,” saying “it is the elimination of these root causes that should be the basis for a settlement.”
“The conversation was very frank and informative, and I believe that it brings us closer to the necessary solutions,” Putin said.
Putin added that he respects “the position of the American administration, which sees the need to end the hostilities as soon as possible.”
