Trump: Zelenskyy must want to end the war, otherwise consequences will be "very bad"
US President Donald Trump believes Ukraine, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally, must want to reach a deal with Russia to end the war. Otherwise, he says, the situation will get worse, and things will be "very bad".
He told reporters this during a briefing in the Oval Office on October 20, Censor.NET reports.
A peace deal
"Ukraine has to want to make a deal because the United States has spent enormous amounts of money, Europe has spent enormous amounts of money, and Europe is now tired of it. If they don’t make a deal, ultimately, I think, it will get much worse. We have given Ukraine a lot. We have received absolutely nothing in return except grief, deaths and enormous financial losses. We have given Ukraine huge sums. We have received nothing but expensive diesel," he said.
The US president separately reiterated: "Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war. We want Zelenskyy to make a deal, and if he doesn’t, I think it will be very bad."
Russia and Ukrainian territory
Trump also spoke about Russia.
"Russia is a big machine. They just keep moving forward, and that is exactly what they are doing. They have captured a very large piece of land. The Russians keep advancing. They have an unlimited number of people," the US leader said.
According to Trump, Ukraine has lost many people, as has Russia, but "Russia is a huge country, and Ukraine is not".
The story about a tank column
Trump also spoke about the start of the full-scale invasion. According to his account, a Russian force of a thousand tanks could have reached Kyiv in four hours along a concrete highway, and the war would have ended in a single day.
"They would have been in Ukraine in four hours, travelling at the tanks’ maximum speed, which, to be precise, is 48 miles per hour. Nothing could have stopped them. The war would have been over in one day. And this very stupid general — I don’t even have any idea who he is. I doubt he is still with us. I doubt he is even still alive. He decided to turn right onto farmland, then left and head towards Kyiv, instead of staying on the highway — a concrete highway, perfectly suitable for driving — where they were making good headway. It would have taken three and a half to four hours, and the whole war would have been over. He ended up stuck in the mud," Trump claimed.
Russian forces failed to capture Kyiv in 2022 and withdrew from the capital’s outskirts in the spring of that year.
Commenting on Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine, Trump said: "Some people in a city that was hit or something, but mostly it is military personnel who are dying."
