In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump reflected on “a very warm meeting,” adding that the sides are “pretty close” to resolving the conflict.
He stressed that Kiev should be on board with the push for peace, for it to have any chance of success.
When asked what advice he would give Zelensky, Trump replied: “Make the deal”, adding that he believes that Putin “wants to see it done.”
“It’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit,” the US president continued.
Trump said that he was ready to mediate direct talks between Putin and Zelensky.
“If they’d like, I’ll be at that next meeting… Not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.”
Trump has described his summit in Alaska with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as a “warm meeting,” and suggested that the Ukraine conflict is close to being resolved.
The US leader praised the three-hour talks with Putin in Anchorage on Friday, noting that they had made progress in talks mainly focused on ending the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.
“Actually, I think we agree on a lot. I can tell you, the meeting was… warm,” Trump said, calling Putin a “strong guy.”
The US leader earlier suggested that he would “give today a ten” when it came to the outcome of the summit.
According to Trump, the sides are “pretty close to the end” of the conflict, although he added that “Ukraine has to agree” to any potential peace deal. He would not provide any details of the discussions, saying only that “there’s one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached.”
The US president also noted that he had “always had a great relationship with President Putin, and we would have done great things together,” while praising Russia as a land brimming with natural resources.
