US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the animosity between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin is “unfathomable” as he tries to end the war in Ukraine. ( Watch the video below. )
Speaking to reporters in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump said he expected to have to intervene in future talks between the two leaders, given their extremely strained relationship.
“The hatred between Zelensky and Putin is unimaginable,” Trump said. “I think I’ll have to do all the talking. They hate each other. There will be talking, whether you call it a summit or just a meeting, it doesn’t matter.”
“They hate each other so much they can barely speak,” he added. “They’re incapable of talking to each other.”
After a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August, Trump said he expected a meeting between the Russian leader and Zelenskyy to follow.
However, Putin has shown no serious desire to sit down with his Ukrainian counterpart, repeatedly ignoring Trump’s deadlines for ending the war and only floating what Ukraine described as an unacceptable proposal for the two of them to meet in Moscow.
However, Zelenskyy said again on Friday that he was ready for face-to-face talks with Putin with the aim of ending the brutal conflict.
“Sometimes we need it. Even if we don’t love the faces,” he told CNN’s Fared Zakaria.
Meanwhile, Trump told reporters that he would be willing to take tougher action against Russia if European countries as a whole completely stopped buying Russian oil.
“I’m willing to do sanctions, but they’re going to have to step up their sanctions in proportion to what I do,” Trump said.
While the European Union has committed to reducing Russian oil imports by 2028, two members of the 27-nation bloc – Slovakia and Hungary – have opposed the plan.
Trump also made a broader appeal to NATO countries to impose tariffs of between 50% and 100% to end oil purchases from Russia. Turkey, part of the military alliance, is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil, according to the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research.
“China has a strong control and even grip over Russia, and these strong tariffs will break that grip,” he wrote on his social truth platform Apvidu.
“If NATO acts as I say, the war will end quickly, and all these lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time and the time, energy and money of the United States,” he continued.
