Trump again urges Zelensky to close a peace agreement with Putin

O American President Donald Trump, who has put more pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky than on Vladimir Putin, said today that “want Ukraine to close a deal” with Russia to end the war.

“ Zelensky must have the will to end this war, and if that is not the case, things will end very badly,” said the US chief of state in a conversation with the White House journalists about the meeting held today in Oslo between the Ukrainian leader and the White House negotiator Steve Witkoff.

The Republican stressed that “I would like to see an agreement reached” and said he believed that “the immense hatred” between Zelensky and Putin is, “to a large extent, the reason why they failed to reach an agreement” that ended the war started by Moscow in February 2022.

“ We want Zelensky to come to an agreement. He can do it (...). Ukraine must have the will to sign an agreement, as the United States has spent a fortune, just like Europe. Europe is tired of all this and, if it does not reach an agreement, in the long term, in my opinion, the situation will simply get worse,” he warned.

Trump recalled that his country gave Ukraine “hundreds of billions of dollars” in aid and arms shipments.

“We received nothing in return, except a high price for diesel,” he repeated, referring to his accusations that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities have increased fuel costs, prices that have been going on for months due to the war Washington has been fighting against Iran for more than seven months.

The US statements come after having signed an agreement to buy fuel from Russia and alleviated the sanctions against Moscow, at a time of increased tensions between its executive and Zelensky, who denounced delays in the delivery of Patriot interceptor missiles, vital to the defense against Russian attacks.

Zelensky also denounced interruptions in the flow of American information and restrictions on access to Starshield (the military satellite version of Starlink, the Elon Musk system), used by his army.

The Ukrainian President attributed all this to an alleged intention of the Trump administration to force Ukraine to capitulate before Russia, something Washington denies.

After his meeting with Zelensky, Witkoff travels on Wednesday to St Petersburg to present a proposal, formulated by the Ukrainian President, to resume the peace talks.

Donald Trump also said today that he asked Vladimir Putin to release Stephen Hubbard, an American detained in Russia, suggesting that an outcome may be near.

“I talked to President Putin about Mr Hubbard. I talked to him long enough about it. I asked him to release him”, said the Republican.

“It’s time to bring Mr Hubbard back,” he added.