While Russia insists it welcomes high-level dialogue with the United States over the Ukraine war, President Trump says the war is “not going very well” and that “no deal will destroy Russia.” He warned President Vladimir Putin to come to an agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated President Donald Trump on his visit to the White House, saying Trump “showed courage and won a convincing victory” and called for the restoration of “direct contacts” between the two countries. He said he would welcome it. Trump confirmed he would “meet with President Putin,” but struck a hard line, warning that it was in the Russians' own best interests to accept the proposed deal, adding: “I think he's excited. “No, I'm not excited.” Make him look good. ”
Russia has persistently said it wants to talk with the US about Ukraine, but there has been no communication at the top level since the Russian invasion began, but President Putin's comments suggest that Russia has its own demands. In particular, he made it clear that he was demanding that Russia be treated as “Ukraine.'' Be equal and have respect. President Putin said in a telephone conversation with the National Security Council: “The most important thing is to eliminate the root causes of the crisis, and we have talked about this many times. This is the most important thing.”
That's no small request. The reason why the war started in the first place is not a matter of common understanding between Russia and Western countries, and NATO generally takes the view that Russia's war of aggression is a choice and is illegal.
Additionally, the Kremlin said today that President Putin spoke by phone with China's Xi Jinping to discuss relations with the United States. “President Xi shared his assessment of the telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump…In this context, the leaders naturally discussed certain aspects regarding the development of potential contacts with the US administration.” It is stated that. They say the meeting has been long planned and was not in response to the U.S. presidential inauguration.
Putin's government spokesman then reiterated Tuesday that Russia is ready for dialogue, but acknowledged that no plans have been made yet. A spokesperson said: So far, no attempts have been made to contact the Russian side. ”
President Trump was drawn to address the press in the Oval Office on Monday as he signed a bundle of executive orders and spoke about the Ukraine war — which he has vowed to quickly end, saying, “If he had been president, the war would never have started,'' and Russia several times as well. Regarding the possibility of a future meeting with President Vladimir Putin, President Trump said, “It could happen soon,” adding that the war is going in a bad direction for Russia and that President Putin himself is seeking a way out. expressed the view that it should be done.
“He can't be excited. He's not doing very well. I mean, he's fighting hard, but most people thought the war would be over in a week or so. And Now he's in his third year. So he can't get excited and he doesn't look good.”
Trump talks about building a deal, Putin says “we'll be very successful at ending the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he's ready to strike a deal, but Russia isn't ready yet. He said it may not have been possible. Nevertheless, he said: “He should make an agreement. I think he is destroying Russia by not making an agreement. I think Russia will be in big trouble, look at Russia's economy, Russian inflation. Look, I'm doing very well with him, so I hope he wants a deal.”
Another important statement by President Trump was a rare comment on the number of casualties in Russia and Ukraine. Although Ukraine frequently claims how many Russian men it has killed and seriously injured (more than 818,000 according to the latest figures), discussions of Ukrainian casualties in the West are comparatively rare. It's rare. President Trump claimed that Russia suffered more casualties in the war than Ukraine, but assuming his numbers are correct, the numbers are surprisingly close.
He said: “We have the numbers, almost a million Russian soldiers killed. About 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers died. Russia is big, so we lose a lot of soldiers. But we still have to run the country. There is no way.”
Ukraine claimed this week that 2024 was Russia's deadliest war ever, with the country suffering more casualties than in 2022 and 2023 combined. Of the 434,000 casualties allegedly suffered by Russian Federation forces in 2024, “approximately 150,000” were claimed to have been killed.
