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US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (January 22) that his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, was “very good” and reiterated that his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is that the war in Ukraine must come to an end.
“This war has to end,” Trump told reporters, when asked what he would convey to Putin. “A lot of people have been killed.”
‘The meeting was good,’ Trump says
Trump said his meeting with Zelensky lasted about an hour, a timeline later confirmed by the White House.
“The meeting was good with President Zelensky,” Trump said. “We’ll see how it turns out.”
Replying to media queries before leaving Davos, Trump said a US delegation would be meeting Putin “today or tomorrow,” although no further details were provided.
Trump also said he did not discuss the possibility of Zelenskiy joining the Board of Peace, a US-initiated international peace framework unveiled at Davos.
Trump says ‘reasonably close’ to deal to end Russia-Ukraine war
Trump said on Wednesday (January 21) that he is “reasonably close” to brokering a deal to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine, even as he acknowledged the complexity of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
Addressing the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said he has been working to bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to end the nearly four-year-old war.
“It’s got to get done. Saving a lot of lives, saving millions of lives,” Trump said. “With Ukraine and Russia, this tremendous hatred between President Zelensky and President Putin — that’s not good. That’s not good for settlements.”
Trump added that while the United Nations should be playing a larger role, he believed he was well suited to mediating such conflicts.
“I’m good at this stuff,” he said, referring to settling wars.
‘They would be stupid not to end it’
Trump said both leaders understood the urgency of ending the conflict.
“I said Putin and Zelensky would be stupid if they don’t end it now,” Trump said. “And I know they’re not stupid.”
However, he acknowledged repeated setbacks in negotiations.
“Many times we had a deal with Russia, and Zelenskyy didn’t agree,” Trump said. “It’s a very difficult balance.”
Ukraine working on peace framework
Zelensky has previously said Ukrainian envoys are working with US officials to finalise documents related to a proposed peace settlement, including post-war security guarantees and economic recovery measures.
No timeline has been announced for a potential agreement.
Putin signals readiness to fund Gaza rebuilding
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready to allocate $1 billion from its frozen assets to help rebuild Gaza through the Board of Peace Council proposed by Trump.
Putin made the remarks during talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Kremlin.
“We believe that the creation and efficient functioning of a sovereign Palestinian state is the only path to a final resolution of the Middle East conflict,” Putin said.
His comments came as leaders and senior officials from 19 countries joined Trump at the signing ceremony of the Board of Peace Charter in Davos, Switzerland.
Russia welcomes Trump’s peace initiative
Putin said he welcomed Trump’s peace efforts and confirmed that Russia had received an invitation to join the Board of Peace.
Russia is ready to allocate $1 billion from its frozen assets in the United States for rebuilding Gaza, Putin said, adding that a final decision on joining the Board would be taken after consultations with Moscow’s strategic partners.
English (US) ·