US President Donald Trump has reiterated the need for a face-to-face meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to resolve Russia’s war against Ukraine.
According to Trump, the result can only be achieved “from a position of strength”.
Speaking to top US Army commanders at a base in Quantico, Trump said he had ordered the deployment of a “submarine or two” off Russia’s coast and stressed that Washington was modernising its nuclear arsenal.
“We have to hope that we never have to use it… I call it the N-word – nuclear (nuclear – ed.),” the US president said.
The US leader also called Russia a paper tiger again and expressed disappointment with Putin: I said to Putin: You look bad… are you a paper tiger?
Trump added that recent threats against the U.S. by “a man who works for Putin” have led to increased U.S. military measures near Russia’s borders.
In the summer, Trump ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines to “appropriate areas” in response to remarks by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the possibility of war between Russia and the United States.
In late July, Medvedev addressed Trump on social network X, saying his ultimatums to Russia could be a “step towards war.”
A possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky, and after that a trilateral one involving the leaders of the United States, Ukraine and Russia, Trump predicted after meeting Putin in Alaska in mid-August.
On 14 September, the US president expressed confidence that a trilateral meeting between him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin would take place. At the same time, Trump declared “incomprehensible hatred” between Zelensky and Putin, because of which he said they could not hold a meeting between the two.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War noted that Putin’s false claims about Zelensky’s illegitimacy demonstrate the Kremlin chief’s disinterest in a peace settlement and set the stage for Russia’s rejection of any possible peace agreement Putin would sign with Zelensky at a time Russia chooses in the future.