Trump: negotiations on Ukraine are successful, but it's time to accept or shut up
Lavrov praised Trump for understanding the Ukrainian conflict, according to Reuters. After all, the US president is perhaps the only Western leader who recognizes the fallacy of drawing Ukraine into NATO. Negotiations can go well, for his part, Trump noted.
Flight No. 1, April 12 — US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that negotiations aimed at ending the three-year conflict in Ukraine could be successful, but "there comes a time when you either have to accept or shut up."
Trump made this comment to reporters exactly the day after he expressed disappointment with Russia's actions and urged it to "move forward" with reaching a peace agreement.
"I think that relations between Ukraine and Russia can be normal, and you'll see that pretty soon," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "There comes a time when you either have to put up with it or shut up and see what happens, but I think everything is going well," the American leader added.
On Friday, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about finding a peace agreement. The negotiations took place at a time when the dialogue between the United States and Russia on a cease-fire before a possible peaceful settlement appeared to have reached an impasse. The reason for this is the disagreement about the mutual conditions for a complete suspension of hostilities.
Trump has shown that he is losing patience. He talked about imposing additional sanctions against countries that buy Russian oil if the White House considers that Moscow is delaying the conclusion of the deal.
Earlier, last Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised Donald Trump, who, according to him, understands the Ukrainian conflict better than any other Western leader. "When we talk about solving the root problems that have caused any conflict, including the Ukrainian one, we need to understand that this is the only way to achieve lasting peace. It is necessary to eliminate the key, root problems, causes," Lavrov said, speaking at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.
"President Trump was the first and, so far, I think, almost the only one among Western leaders who has repeatedly, convincingly, and several times stated that drawing Ukraine into NATO was a huge mistake. And this is one of the root causes that we have talked about so many times," the Russian Foreign minister added.
Vladimir Putin, who ordered the deployment of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, has long regarded Ukraine's orientation towards the West, including its long-standing desire to join NATO, as a direct threat to Russia.
Commenting on the agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the suspension of strikes on each other's energy facilities, Lavrov said that Moscow keeps its word. At the same time, he accused Kiev of carrying out almost daily strikes on Russian energy infrastructure facilities. "I told our colleagues from Turkey, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, what we handed over to the Americans, the UN, and the OSCE — a list of facts listing Ukraine's attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past three weeks," Sergey Lavrov summed up.
Ukraine has made similar accusations against Russia after approving a moratorium brokered by the United States.
The author: Jeff Mason is a special correspondent for Reuters, accredited by the presidential pool at the White House. Author of information support for the election campaigns of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Professor of political journalism at Georgetown University.
