Ukraine negotiations

Trump: “Big deals” planned with Russia

US President Donald Trump has announced that he is "in serious talks" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(Bild: AFP/Agustin PAULLIER)

Is peace in Ukraine within reach? According to US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin would agree to European peacekeeping troops to secure a possible ceasefire and EU participation at the negotiating table. "Yes, he would accept that," the Republican claimed on Monday.

Trump said this on the sidelines of a visit to Washington by French head of state Emmanuel Macron. He had spoken to Putin about the situation in Ukraine.

Macron: "Talks are underway"
Macron explained that talks on the path to a solution were underway. The aim is to ultimately reach a peace agreement and begin the reconstruction of Ukraine with the help of security guarantees. "We have a role to play in this," he said, according to a translator present.

"Ceasefire goes faster"
 Trump believes that a ceasefire is possible in the search for a peace solution for Ukraine before a lasting peace is achieved. "It would be nice if we could come to an agreement directly. But a ceasefire always goes a little faster," said Trump.

We are helping Ukraine like nobody has ever helped Ukraine before.

Donald Trump

Every day that the fighting could be stopped sooner would save hundreds, sometimes thousands of lives, Trump said. "We want to see if we can do that very quickly," he added. Trump repeated his statement that he believes the Russian side also intends to end the fighting.

Major concerns in Ukraine over Trump's rapprochement with Putin
Trump's rapprochement with Moscow has caused great concern in Ukraine and the EU. Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible. However, he has not yet involved either Kiev or the Europeans in the Ukraine talks - which is fueling fears among the latter that Trump and Putin could decide the future of Ukraine over their heads.

USA-Russia meeting apparently imminent
A meeting between Russia and the USA is apparently imminent. According to an announcement by the Russian president's government, this is to take place "at the end of the week". According to the announcement, high-ranking diplomats are to meet in a first round. There was initially no information on whether Trump and Putin would also meet.

Trump also wants to meet Zelensky soon
In addition, Trump says he wants to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week or next. It is about an agreement on US access to raw materials stored in Ukraine, among other things, which Zelenskyi wants to sign personally, Trump said on the sidelines of a visit by French head of state Emmanuel Macron. "We are getting very close to an agreement," said Trump.

"We are helping Ukraine like nobody has ever helped Ukraine before," said the US President. He did not want the war in Ukraine to degenerate into a third world war.

USA and Ukraine wrestle over treaty
The USA and Ukraine have been wrangling over this treaty for weeks. Selensky had initially refused to agree to such a paper because the conditions it contained were said to be unfavorable for Ukraine. Furthermore, it did not contain any security guarantees for the country attacked by Russia. Ukraine had explicitly demanded these. Whether a revised proposal will now include them remained unclear at first.

According to information from the Ukrainian public broadcaster, Kiev has already sent a final version of the framework agreement on access to Ukrainian raw materials to Washington.