US President Donald Trump, commenting on the possibility of a summit of the leaders of the US, Ukraine, and Russia after trilateral talks in the UAE over the weekend, said that if you don't meet, nothing will happen, so there are meetings, and "we'll see what happens." He said this to reporters aboard Air Force One on the night of January 23, writes UNN.
Listen, it's all good. Every time we meet, it's all good. If you don't meet, nothing happens. I mean, for the first three years, nobody met. Under Biden, nobody met. And you know, one thing: if you don't meet, nothing happens. So we're meeting, and we'll see what happens. I hope we can save a lot of lives.
When asked what concessions Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin should make at this point, Trump indicated: "He will make concessions. Everyone makes concessions for it to be done."
"Europe will be a part of it. It has to be a part of it. Listen, this is more for Europe than it is for me. I mean, I'm doing this more for Europe than I am for myself. I'm doing it to save lives, number one. I'm doing it, number two, for Europe. I'm not doing it so much for... It doesn't affect us that much, other than the loss of lives. You know, it still doesn't affect us. It's thousands of miles away. We have an ocean between us. But I have the ability to do these things, and we'll see if I can do it. I mean, it would never have been done. I thought Putin wanted all of this. Maybe he wants it, but he's not going to... he's not going to get there unless we make a deal," the US president continued.
"But we had a good meeting with President Zelenskyy today. I think, a very good one," Trump said.
Answering what is the main delay in reaching a deal, Trump noted: "The delay is the same things that delayed it last year. Look, it's a war. It's Biden's war. It's not my war. It's a war that should never have happened. But it's complicated because there are zones and boundaries, streets, rivers, everything else. (...) So, it's a little complicated, but I've had that in five other wars."
"Now I think they both want to make a deal, but we'll find out," Trump emphasized.
When asked if anything had changed to make him think that Putin and Zelenskyy are now serious about it, Trump noted: "Nothing has changed. I think President Putin would like to make a deal. I think President Zelenskyy would like to make a deal."
When asked what Zelenskyy said during the meeting in Davos, because "he traveled all this way to meet," Trump indicated: "He said he would like to make a deal."
"I mean, you know, he can't say much. People know the parameters. It's not like we're discussing things that have been discussed for six or seven months, and he came and said he wanted to make a deal, because I wasn't sure. I think he should want to make a deal," Trump noted.
"It's pretty tough. It's really tough for the people of Ukraine. ... they live without heating, where the temperature is -20° below zero, you know, very cold. It's basically a colder climate than Canada, and they live without heating. I asked him how they do it? And he gave me an answer. It's pretty amazing what they do to live. You can't live like that."