Last night, Donald Trump suggested Russia’s war in Ukraine could have been “settled very easily” as he criticised Kyiv’s negotiation skills.
In comments after an extraordinary meeting between senior American and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, the US president said of Ukraine: “They’ve had a seat [at the table] for three years and a long time before that.
“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
While touting his own negotiation skills, Trump also said he was “more confident” about a peace deal after Tuesday’s talks, attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Here are the key moments from Donald Trump’s address in Mar-a-Lago…
On talks in Saudi Arabia
Asked whether he’s more or less confident of a peace deal after yesterday’s talks in Saudi Arabia, Trump said he’s “much more confident”.
“They were very good,” he added.
On European troops in Ukraine
The UK and France have suggested they could send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as part of a peace deal.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said such proposals, under NATO or any country, would be “unacceptable”, though Trump disagreed.
“If they want to do that, that’d be fine,” he said, adding the US would “not object to that at all”.
“I know France has mentioned it. Others have mentioned it, the UK has mentioned it,” he said, calling it a “beautiful gesture”.
On Ukraine’s absence from talks
He said: “I’m very disappointed. I hear that, you know, they’re upset about not having a seat.
“Well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily.”
On presidential elections in Ukraine
“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down to 4% approval rating.”
He added: “If Ukraine wants a seat at the table, wouldn’t the people have to say it has been a long time since they had an election?
“That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.”
On previous talks with Putin
“I think everyone knew that this is something that should have never happened, would have never happened,” he said.
“And I used to discuss it with Putin. President Putin and I would talk about Ukraine, and it was the apple of his eye, I will tell you that.
“But he never, there was never a chance of him going in. And I told him: ‘You better not go in, don’t go in, don’t go in.’ And he understood that and he understood it fully.”
Trump added he will probably meet with Putin before the end of the month. (Skynews)