A peace agreement on Ukraine, despite all the difficulties, “could work”, United States President Donald Trump said during an interaction with journalists, broadcast by the White House.
According to him, “there is tangible progress in efforts to end the war”.
Responding to a question about the prospects for a settlement, Trump said that work is underway on the possibility of a peace agreement, and the results could become known “in the near future”.
Commenting on the idea of creating a “free economic zone” in Donbass and other territories occupied by Russia, the US President refused to give specific explanations, noting the complexity of the situation.
“I don’t want to talk about it now. It’s a very complicated situation, but it can work. And a lot of people want it to work. All I want to do is stop the deaths of 25,000 people a month,” Trump said.
President Zelensky earlier while talking to journalists emphasised that the issue of possible territorial solutions should be decided by the people of Ukraine “in the format of elections or in the format of a referendum”.
The Ukrainian president had earlier said that the negotiators discussing the US-brokered peace initiative maintain disagreements on territories. “There is a vision of the United States, Russia and Ukraine, and we do not have a common opinion on Donbass,” Zelensky said.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has been trying again to reach a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev. The week-long talks have produced a document that is more acceptable to Kiev, but there are several contentious issues, particularly regarding territory and security guarantees.
According to Zelensky, the US believes that a full ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia is possible only after the signing of a comprehensive framework agreement on peace, as the Americans believe that Russia will not agree to a ceasefire without such a document, although Kiev insists that there must be a ceasefire first.
It is unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to agree to a ceasefire agreement. After talks with Trump’s envoys in Moscow last week, the Kremlin said some of the proposals on the table were acceptable, but he rejected others.