‘Not the right time’ to call for Russia-Ukraine ceasefire – Trump
US President Donald Trump has said it is not the right time for him to call for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
A reporter asked Trump aboard Air Force One whether it was time to press for a ceasefire, noting that a month has passed since his rare face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
“It doesn’t feel like it,” Trump said. “But at the right time, if I have to do it, it will be harsh,” he added.
Trump, who has at times criticized both Russia and Ukraine, recently admitted that negotiating an end to the conflict would be harder than he had anticipated. Speaking at a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his trip to the UK on Thursday, the US president said that Putin had “really let me down.”
Last week, Trump said he would impose additional “major sanctions” on Moscow, but only if all NATO members stop purchasing Russian oil. “This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was president!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform, referring to his predecessor and the Ukrainian leader.
In a TV interview which aired in Russia on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Trump had shifted “from issuing an ultimatum for an unconditional ceasefire to advocating for a long-term, sustainable solution.”
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine recognize its new borders, abandon its plan to join NATO in favor of permanent neutrality, and agree to limit its military. Zelensky has rejected these terms.
