US President Donald Trump has expressed confidence that a trilateral meeting between him and Ukrainian President and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will take place. At the same time, Trump said there was an “unfathomable hatred” between Zelensky and Putin, which he said was the reason they could not hold a meeting between the two.
“Over eight thousand soldiers have died this week in the war between the two countries, a little bit more from Russia, because when you’re the aggressor you lose more… I want to stop the killing. I thought stopping this war would be easy. But it turned out to be difficult. The hatred between Zelensky and Putin is unfathomable. I will probably have to speak, they hate each other,” he said while speaking to reporters before leaving for Washington on 14 September.
“There will be talks-call it a summit or just a meeting, it doesn’t matter. But I will probably have to (take part – ed.). They hate each other so much that they almost can’t talk. They’re just not capable of talking to each other,” the US president added. When exactly the meeting may take place, Trump did not specify.
He also once again criticised Europe for profiting from weak sanctions against Russia and buying oil from it.
“Europe is my friends, but they buy oil from Russia. I don’t want them to do that. The sanctions they are applying-not tough enough. I’m willing to impose sanctions, but they have to step up theirs-I’m willing to move forward, but they have to do it too. I think they will. However, right now they are only talking, not acting. After all, they are buying oil from Russia. We don’t buy oil from Russia. And they buy a lot of it. This is a no deal,” Trump stated.
On 13 September, US President Donald Trump said he was ready to impose “serious sanctions” against Russia if all NATO countries do the same and stop buying Russian oil.
The US President also suggested that NATO countries impose duties of 50-100 per cent on imports from China.
President Zelensky supported this position and urged his partners to “stop looking for excuses” regarding sanctions against Russian oil.