The souvenir shop owner displayed Russian dolls of U.S. presidents including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Misha Friedman | Getty Images News | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump raised the possibility of meeting Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to end the “bloody chaos” in Ukraine, while outgoing Joe Biden’s administration pushed for a crackdown on the battered ally Kyiv’s final aid package.
“He wants to meet, and … we’re arranging it,” Trump said at a news conference on Thursday, noting that he would rather postpone the meeting until after the presidential inauguration on January 20. Decide whether to meet.
“President Putin wants to meet. He’s even said so in public. We have to end this war, which is a bloody mess. Millions of soldiers are being killed,” Trump said. “The biggest surprise, and it will be a very unpleasant surprise, is how many people died in that war.”
Trump’s relationship with Putin has historically been cordial than that of many Western heads of state, who have grown increasingly distant from the Kremlin since Moscow invaded its Eastern European neighbors in February 2022.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has come under scrutiny as the special counsel conducted a nearly two-year investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump, who won the vote, rejected suggestions that he was influenced by the Kremlin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Google Translate on Friday that Putin was ready to meet Trump without reservations Comment Russian state news agency TASS reported. He added that the specific details of such a settlement No agreement yet and could take place before Trump’s inauguration, noting that Russia welcomes the president-elect’s intention to withdraw from talks.
Western-led efforts to mediate a peace arrangement, and the respective frameworks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and influential Chinese mediator Xi Jinping, have yet to gain mutual acceptance or bear fruit. Moscow and Kiev have so far drawn conflicting red lines, refusing to join the negotiating table unless they are allowed to keep the annexed territories or until Russian troops leave Ukrainian territory.
Trump’s openness to contacting Putin marks a departure from the relationship that has been dominated by the administration of Biden over the past two years, who has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine throughout the conflict.
The Biden administration has pledged some $65.9 billion in security aid to Kyiv since the invasion began As of January 8. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced $500 billion in aid to UkraineThere are only 10 days left before Biden is scheduled to exit the White House.
Questions remain about the extent of U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s devastating war. Trump has previously claimed that he could resolve Ukraine’s devastating war within an ambitious “24-hour” deadline, but has not revealed his approach or proposed a specific ceasefire.
He also strongly criticized U.S. spending to strengthen Ukraine’s defense, questioned the United States’ continued participation in the NATO military alliance, and at one point called Zelensky “probably the greatest politician of all time,” alluding to the aid provided to of Ukraine.
Taken together, Trump’s rhetoric and emerging signs of trade nationalism have stoked broader concerns that potential pressure from the White House or a withdrawal of U.S. military support could tempt resource-dependent Kyiv into a diplomatic endgame, including conceding territory to an aggressor.
Ukraine expects a meeting between Trump and Zelensky to take place soon after the U.S. president-elect is inaugurated, Ukrainian ministry spokesman Kheochy Tihey said on Friday, Reuters reported.
