Putin influenced US position on ceasefire ahead of Zelenskyy-Trump meeting, - Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Donald Trump a few hours before the American leader's meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, trying to disrupt the ceasefire agreement in Ukraine.
This was reported by The Times, according to Censor.NET.
As the publication notes, a similar situation has occurred before. In October, Zelenskyy counted on Trump's consent to sell Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but after a call from Putin, the American president refused to do so.
According to reports, before the current meeting in Mar-a-Lago, Putin again called Trump, seeking to prevent the agreement on a ceasefire, for which Zelenskyy had arrived in the United States.
The publication writes that the Ukrainian president was ready to compromise and for the first time allowed for the possibility of territorial concessions in Donbas, provided there was a 60-day truce to hold a referendum on a peace agreement.
After Putin's conversation with Trump, the Kremlin said that the American president had allegedly rejected this proposal. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov explained that a ceasefire could lead to a ‘"dragging out of the war.’"
The Times notes that the Kremlin's position coincides with Trump's subsequent public statements. After meeting with Zelenskyy, he confirmed that he understood Putin's arguments against a ceasefire and believed that stopping the fighting could lead to its resumption.
Trump's conversation with Putin
- We remind you that on Sunday, 28 December, US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin ahead of his planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said that the telephone conversation between the leaders lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Meeting between the Presidents of Ukraine and the United States
- On Sunday, 28 December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump met in Florida.
- Earlier it was reported that the meeting between the leaders would be devoted to security guarantees that the US is ready to provide to Ukraine. In addition, Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to discuss the management of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and territorial issues.
- Trump expressed his willingness to address the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Zelenskyy announced a new meeting with US and European partners in January.
- The parties stated that they saw progress towards a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine.
- In turn, US President Donald Trump said that he was closely monitoring the Kremlin's position and believed that Russia was allegedly showing interest in ending the war in Ukraine.
