Trump's message to Zelensky: "The time has come to hand over the negotiations with Russia."

Hakan Çopur October 19, 2026 • Updated: October 19, 2026 As he left the White House for the election rally to be held in the state of Kansas, President Trump assessed the agenda to the press. Trump stated that he greatly wanted the end of the Russia-Ukraine war and that they are currently conducting negotiations with Moscow for this purpose, emphasizing that there was a good dialogue during this process with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump argued that Russia was more willing to make a deal than Ukraine, and made the assessment, "Perhaps it is time for Zelensky's negotiations to be handed over to someone else." Recalling that the US President mentioned that Zelensky was displeased by the diesel agreement made with Russia and that he said "Trump is stopping history on the wrong side," the US President said the following: "Zelensky does not know what he is talking about. He should have solved this war a long time ago. If he had listened to me, he would have made a good deal long ago, and one million people are still living in his country." "Putin is not touching Iran, and that is good." Trump expressed that they were actively negotiating with Putin and Ukraine and did not want to derail the negotiations by going into details. Emphasizing that they were also in a good dialogue process with the Russian President regarding Iran, Trump made the assessment, "Putin is not touching Iran and that is good, because we are attacking Iran very hard economically and militarily." Trump stated that China is also acting "reasonably" regarding both Iran and Ukraine, saying, "Russia could have done much more to help Iran, but did very little. China could have done much more for Iran too. I see this as a very positive development." Trump indicated that the three-way meeting between Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would be open in China where he would go in November. In response to a question, the US President made the assessment, "If Putin and Xi want to meet in a three-way meeting, I would like to do it in China." Trump noted that he did not know who caused the interruption of the internet service provided by Starlink to the Ukrainian army, but he wanted to find the responsible party.