U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that it was now up to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to take the "very productive" conversations he had with the Russian President Vladimir Putin a step further and finalize an agreement to end Russia’s now three-year invasion.
"Now it's really up to President Zelensky to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it's up to President Zelensky," Trump told Fox News after the summit, saying he rated the meeting as ten out of ten.
During their high-profile summit, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin disappointed observers expecting progress on Ukraine, conveyed some areas of commonality and rekindled their relationship, but did not declare movement on achieving a ceasefire agreement. The talks lasted longer than scheduled at three hours, and after remarking on how the end of the meeting abruptly concluded with aides present, Trump - who often refers to himself a master deal-maker - said, "We're not there yet, but we've made progress. There's no deal until there's a deal."
Describing their exchange as "extremely productive," Trump said that both leaders found "many points" of understanding, but declined to provide any specifics.
"There are a lot of very few left, there are some that are not very significant, there is probably one that is the most significant," Trump said with no further elaboration. He also said that he would next reach out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and, in addition, he would talk to the NATO leaders, many of whom were quite concerned about his overtures to Putin.
During a joint press appearance that lasted only 12 minutes, Putin spoke generally about the possible cooperation. He warned Ukraine and European countries "not to create any obstacles" and "not to make attempts to hinder this emerging progress through provocation, or through some sort of backdoor intrigue."
"We hope that the understanding we have reached will... pave the way for peace in Ukraine," Putin said.
As Trump raised the possibility of a future meetng, Putin grinned in response and said in English: "Next time in Moscow."
The former KGB officer also tried to butter up Trump's ego, as he has admitted to be an admirer of Putin. He subsequently reiterated Trump's belief by saying that the war in Ukraine – that he had ordered – would not have occurred if Trump, rather than Joe Biden, had remained in office.
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