On the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis, organized this Saturday in Rome, the negotiations around the war in Ukraine continue between international leaders. In the morning, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and Volodymyr Zelensky, his Ukrainian counterpart, met for a positive exchange according to the two parties.
A few moments after this discussion, the American leader split a publication on his Truth Social network. “Maybe” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want to stop war” in Ukraine and “walk,” wrote Trump in the afternoon.
“There was no reason for Putin to shoot missiles in civil, cities and villages in recent days. It makes me think that, perhaps, he does not want to stop the war and that he walks me, and then you have to do otherwise, “he added. “Too many people die !!! ». Donald Trump then mentioned two alternative options: hitting the banking system and strengthening sanctions against Russia, already very important.
An offensive publication towards Russia quite contradictory with the information transmitted by Moscow at the start of the weekend. Indeed, at the same time on Saturday, the Kremlin spokesman said that Vladimir Putin would be ready to negotiate the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine “without any prerequisite”, as announced by the Russian president to the emissary of Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, during their interview on Friday.
The Kremlin wants to “bring the positions closer” to Moscow and Washington
The Russian president has however regularly repeated his maximalist requirements about Ukraine: control of the five Ukrainian regions of which Moscow claims the annexation, the renunciation of Ukraine to join NATO and its demilitarization. More broadly, Vladimir Putin, who presents the conflict in Ukraine as a supposed “hybrid war” carried out by NATO against Russia, requires a overhaul of security architecture in Europe, in particular concerning the positioning of NATO forces currently based near the Russian borders.
The Kremlin had described on Friday as “constructive and very useful” on Friday of this new discussions between Putin and Peskov, exchanges to be used to “bring the positions closer” to Moscow and Washington on a number of subjects, first of all of which the Ukrainian file.
Vladimir Putin ordered his army on February 24, 2022 to attack Ukraine, a conflict that led to a little more than three years tens of thousands of deaths, civilians and soldiers combined. Russia still occupies almost 20 % of the Ukrainian territory.
