President Trump on Sunday voiced disappointment in Russia while urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to “stop shooting” and sign a U.S.-brokered peace deal to end the war with Ukraine.
“Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” Trump told reporters when asked what he wants the Russian leader to do at this moment.
“We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it,” the president added.
Trump reiterated his frustration with Putin after Russia last week launched its deadliest attack on Kyiv in nine months. The missile and drone strikes killed at least nine people and wounded more than 70, including six children, according to Ukrainian officials.
“I was very disappointed that missiles were flying, by Russia,” Trump said, later adding he was “surprised and disappointed, very disappointed, that they did the bombing of those places after discussion.”
The remarks come as Trump and his aides have sought to ramp up pressure on both sides to agree to a peace deal, warning if there’s no deal soon, the U.S. might “move on” from efforts to facilitate the negotiation.
Details of the proposal have not been made public, but reports have indicted the deal would include U.S. recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, a prospect Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has flatly rejected.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky said last week. “There’s nothing to talk about here.”
Trump was asked Sunday whether Zelensky raised the issue of Crimea when the two leaders met ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome the previous day.
“He did, very briefly,” Trump responded.
“But Crimea was given away by Barack Hussein Obama and by Biden,” Trump continued, referring to his Democratic predecessors. “That’s 11 or 12 years ago. That’s a long time ago. I don’t know how you can bring up Crimea because that’s been a long time. Nobody brought it up for 12 years, and now they bring it up now.”
“Maybe go back to Obama, ask him why they gave it up,” he added, reiterating criticism he voiced last week when Zelensky rejected the idea of recognizing Crimea as part of Russia.
Trump on Sunday described his meeting with Zelensky inside St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican as “good,” “nice” and “beautiful,” but said there’s “a tough road ahead.”
The U.S. president said Zelensky reiterated his request for weapons, with Trump adding, “But he’s been saying that for three years, he needs more weapons.”
“We’re going to see what happens,” Trump continued. “I want to see what happens with respect to Russia.”
