US President Donald Trump said on Monday that a face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is difficult, citing personal hostility between the two leaders.
"The hatred between Zelenskyy and Putin is unfathomable, they hate each other so much they can't breathe," Trump told reporters.
He added that the “hatred” between Zelenskyy and Putin will eventually compel him to be involved personally and “do all the talking.”
Trump also reiterated his claim of halting seven wars but noted that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has proven to be difficult to resolve.
US President Donald Trump said last week that his patience with Putin is “running out fast,” during an interview with Fox News. His comments came after the Kremlin announced that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are currently on “pause.”
"But it does take two to tango... When Putin wants to do it, Zelenskyy didn't. When Zelenskyy wanted to do it, Putin didn't... We're going to have to come down very, very strong," Trump said.
Trump has launched an aggressive diplomatic push, including hosting Putin in Alaska, in an effort to broker a deal. Three rounds of direct peace talks in Istanbul have so far achieved little beyond major prisoner exchanges between the warring countries.
Despite efforts to stall the aggression, Moscow has continued its offensive and ongoing aerial bombardments.
Cluster munitions have killed or injured over 1,200 civilians in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) reported on Monday, highlighting “troubling setbacks” in global efforts to eliminate the weapons. Ukraine now has the highest recorded annual cluster munition casualties worldwide.
Meanwhile, Moscow continues to demand that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, parts of which it already occupies, while Kyiv has rejected territorial concessions and called for European troops to serve as peacekeepers, a proposal Russia considers unacceptable.
On the other hand, a Ukrainian military intelligence source claimed responsibility on Sunday for two weekend attacks on Russia’s railway system, which derailed a train and killed three Russian officers.
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