This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on January 23 that he would like to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately to secure an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“From what I hear, Putin would like to see me, and we’ll leave as soon as we can. I’d meet immediately,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Everyday we don’t meet, soldiers are being killed in the battlefield.”
Trump added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had told him he was ready to make a deal to end the war.
Earlier on January 23, Trump told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, over video link that he would like to be able to meet with Putin soon. He added that U.S. efforts to secure a peace settlement were under way but gave no details.
During last year’s presidential campaign Trump said repeatedly that he would quickly end the war, even within days of his inauguration. He now says it could take months but has mentioned ending the war multiple times.
Zelenskiy also spoke at the WEF, telling the gathering that a 200,000-strong European peacekeeping force would be necessary to secure any cease-fire in the conflict in Ukraine, but he insisted U.S. leadership in any such a venture would be crucial to its success.
Zelenskiy said during a January 22 panel discussion that such a contingent would be only a part of overall security guarantees Kyiv would need should cease-fire talks ever begin with Putin.
Separately, Zelenskiy told Bloomberg News that for any peace force to be effective, it must include U.S. troops.
“It can’t be without the United States,” he told Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait.
“First of all, no one will take risks without the United States. Second, it can divide NATO, divide the United States, and the European Union,” he said. “It’s Putin’s dream to split this alliance.”
A peacekeeping force of 200,000 would be an unprecedented effort for Europe. The NATO-led international mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina peaked in 1996 at 60,000 troops, about a third from the United States.
Zelenskiy said such a massive international force would be required given Russia’s military numbered more than 1.5 million personnel while Ukraine had only half that figure.
The deployment of a foreign military contingent in Ukraine was being discussed with countries that might be willing to participate, Zelenskiy said during a news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on January 16.
The British press also reported that Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have discussed sending soldiers to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force after any deal to end the war.
Zelenskiy also echoed remarks by Trump that Chinese leader Xi Jinping could help “push” Russia to make peace.
“But not without us — this is important,” he added, referring to any peace settlement.
The new U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke by phone on January 23 with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and discussed the importance of ending the war in Ukraine. The State Department said Rubio also reinforced the U.S. commitment to NATO after Trump said he was “not sure” the United States should be spending anything on the alliance while pressing other member countries to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.
Zelenskiy said his team was “currently in the process” of setting up a face-to-face meeting with Trump, who resumed the U.S. presidency on January 20.
Zelenskiy’s comments follow three days of some of the most critical public remarks made by Trump against Putin, who he has often spoken of in admiration.
Trump on January 22 called out his Russian counterpart by name, warning Moscow it faces new “high” tariffs, taxes, and sanctions if it doesn’t quickly end its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A day earlier, he suggested he would hit Russia with additional sanctions if Putin didn’t accept peace talks to end the war.
And on January 20 said Putin was “destroying” Russia by refusing to make a deal to end the war.
“I think Russia’s going to be in big trouble…. Most people thought that war would have been over in one week,. Trump said.”
Russia has burned through hundreds of billions of dollars on the war, suffered an estimated 700,000 casualties, and angered its neighbors, while also sacrificing the lucrative European gas market and access to Western financial markets as the ruble has tumbled in value.
The Kremlin is spending about 40 percent of its budget on the military and is struggling to contain inflation even with interest rates above 20 percent.
The war in Ukraine started in 2014 with the Kremlin’s seizure and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and intensified with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Source: American Military News
