Trump urges Zelensky to close a peace deal with Putin again

Trump urges Zelensky to make a peace deal with Putin The North American President, Donald Trump, who has exerted more pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky than on Vladimir Putin, said today that "wants Ukraine to make a deal" with Russia to end the war. "Zelensky needs the will to end this war and, if that is not the case, things will end very badly," the North American head of state warned in a conversation with journalists at the White House about the meeting held today in Oslo between the Ukrainian leader and the White House negotiator, Steve Witkoff. The Republican emphasized that he "would like to see a deal reached" and said he believes that the "immense hatred" between Zelensky and Putin is, "to a large extent, the reason they have not been able to reach an agreement" to end the war initiated by Moscow in February 2022. "We want Zelensky to reach an agreement. He can do it (...). Ukraine must have the will to sign an agreement, given that the United States has spent a fortune, as has Europe. Europe is already tired of all this and, if they do not reach an agreement, in the long term, in my opinion, the situation will simply get worse," he warned. Trump recalled that his country has delivered "hundreds of billions of dollars" in aid and arms shipments to Ukraine. "We received nothing in return, except a high price for gasoline," he repeated, referring to his accusations that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities increased fuel costs, prices that had already been soaring for months due to the war that Washington has been waging against Iran for more than seven months. The North American statements come after he signed an agreement to purchase fuel from Russia and eased sanctions against Moscow, at a time of increased tensions between his executive and Zelensky, who denounced delays in the delivery of Patriot interceptor missiles, vital for defense against Russian attacks. Zelensky also denounced interruptions in the flow of North American information and restrictions on access to Starshield (the satellite military version of Starlink, Elon Musk's system), used by his army. The Ukrainian President attributed all of this to the alleged intention of the Trump administration to force Ukraine to capitulate before Russia, something Washington denies. After his meeting with Zelensky, Witkoff travels on Wednesday to St. Petersburg to present a proposal, formulated by the Ukrainian President, to resume peace talks. Donald Trump also announced today that he asked Vladimir Putin for the release of Stephen Hubbard, an American detained in Russia, suggesting that a resolution may be near. "I spoke with President Putin about Mr. Hubbard. I talked to him at length about it. I asked him to release him," the Republican stressed. "It is time to bring Mr. Hubbard back," he added.