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20-02-2025
WASHINGTON: US Donald Trump has taken aim at Ukraine after its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said it was a “surprise” his country had not been invited to talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war with Russia.
Saying he was “disappointed” by Ukraine’s reaction, he appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war, saying the country “could have made a deal” earlier.
A full-scale Russian invasion sparked the war in Ukraine almost three years ago.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh for the first high-level, face-to-face talks between the two countries since the invasion, and agreed to appoint teams to start negotiating the end of the war.
Lavrov said his country would not accept peacekeeping forces from NATO countries in Ukraine under any peace deal, a proposal raised at a meeting of European members of Nato in Paris on Monday.
European Nato states, who remain committed to supporting Ukraine against Russia, have been smarting at being sidelined by Trump’s unilateral peace initiative, which reversed the resolutely pro-Ukraine policy of his predecessor as president, Joe Biden.
Zelensky previously said Ukraine does not want people to make decisions behind their backs after being excluded from US-Russia talks in Riyadh.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump was asked by media what his message was to Ukrainians who might feel betrayed.
“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.
“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” he later added.
“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.”
After the meeting in Riyadh, Trump said he was “much more confident”.
“They were very good,” he said. “Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism.”
“I think I have the power to end this war,” he added.
Trump also criticised the length of time since an election was held in Ukraine, when asked if the US would support Russian demands for one to be held.
“They want a seat at the table, but… wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” the president responded.
He also claimed Zelensky who won a five-year term in 2019 was “down at 4% approval rating”.
Zelensky has remained in office while the country has been under Martial Law following the onset of the conflict. One opinion poll in December suggested 52% of Ukrainians surveyed said they “trust” Zelensky.
Meanwhile, when asked about the prospect of European countries sending troops to Ukraine, Trump said: “If they want to do that, that’s great, I’m all for it.”
However, he added of a potential US deployment of troops: “We won’t have to put any over there because, you know, we’re very far away.”
After Monday’s meeting in Paris, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said any Ukraine peace deal would require a “US backstop” to deter Russia from attacking its neighbor again.
Sir Keir said a “US security guarantee was the only way to effectively deter Russia”, and vowed to discuss the “key elements” of a peace deal with Trump in Washington next week. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
