After Putin-Witkoff meeting… Trump urges Russia to move toward a settlement in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday in St. Petersburg, as the US president called on Moscow to take action to move toward a settlement in Ukraine.

Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social, that “Russia must act,” noting that the war Moscow launched by invading Ukraine in early 2022 was “absurd” and “shouldn’t have happened”.

Trump is pushing to end the war in Ukraine; This insistence raises fears in Kyiv that it will be forced to accept harsh concessions, especially as Trump sends contradictory signals.

His administration is holding separate talks with senior Russian and Ukrainian officials, but these haven’t resulted in a comprehensive ceasefire, and negotiations are still ongoing.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Friday that hundreds of Chinese citizens are fighting for Russia in Ukraine, accusing Moscow of trying to “prolong the war, even by exploiting the lives of Chinese people,” days after he also accused it of dragging Beijing into the conflict.

Zelensky’s remarks came from his hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, during a video conference meeting with military leaders of Ukraine’s main allies gathered in Brussels, who have been asked to supply his country with ten additional US-made Patriot air defense systems.

Zelensky accused Beijing of knowing that its citizens were being conscripted into the Russian army, a statement China deemed irresponsible.

The Ukrainian president also called on the West to proceed with the establishment of a military force to deploy in his country in the event of a cessation of hostilities, to deter Russia from attacking again.

“We need to establish clear details regarding the size, structure, deployment, logistics, support, equipment, and armament of this security unit in Ukraine,” he said.

Russia rejected the proposal in early March, saying it wasn’t possible to reach any compromise regarding the deployment of European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.

This comes as the Russian president met with Trump’s envoy, Vitkov, on Friday afternoon.

The meeting lasted more than four hours and dealt particularly with the Ukraine issue, according to Russian news agencies.

According to Russian RIA Novosti and TASS news agencies, the talks lasted four hours and 30 minutes.

Russian Izvestia newspaper correspondent reported on Telegram that the two delegations had left the presidential library where the meeting was held.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks “will address various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement. There are many aspects, and the issue is very complex,” according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

However, the Kremlin doesn’t expect any diplomatic breakthroughs during the talks, Peskov said.

The spokesman explained that the process of normalizing relations and searching for a basis for moving toward a settlement (of the conflict in Ukraine) is underway,” stressing that “serious work is continuing… It’s only natural that Witkoff will carry something from his boss to Putin”.

Earlier on Friday, Witkoff met in St. Petersburg with the Kremlin’s chief economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, who visited Washington in early April, the first visit by a Russian official to the United States since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.

Trump intensified his attacks on Zelensky and criticized his country’s aid to Kyiv, but Trump also threatened Russia with new sanctions if it didn’t move toward peace.

In late March, Trump expressed his displeasure and resentment with Putin to NBC, particularly after the latter raised the idea of ​​a transitional administration in Ukraine without Zelensky as part of a peace agreement.

On the other hand, Witkoff praised Putin in an interview last month, saying he was a great leader and not a bad guy.

However, the Russian president didn’t agree to the US proposal for a 30-day truce, while Ukraine did.

Trump only secured his Russian counterpart’s agreement to suspend strikes on energy facilities.

Since then, Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of violating this pledge.

At the end of March, Washington declared a truce in the Black Sea.