Donald Trump seemingly hit out at those criticising the absence of Kyiv officials from talks held between Russia and the US on ending the war in Ukraine.
Asked to respond to Ukrainians who might be disappointed that their country’s officials were not invited to peace talks held in Riyadh on Tuesday, the US president said: « They’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. »
Mr Trump added that he was « more confident » about a peace deal after Tuesday’s discussions in Saudi Arabia, which were attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vladimir Putin‘s chief diplomat, Sergey Lavrov.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the US president also said he would not be against European peacekeeping troops being posted to Ukraine as part of a peace deal.
He told media: « If they want to do that, that’d be fine. » He added that the US would « not object to that at all ».
Mr Trump then said: « I know France has mentioned it. Others have mentioned it, the UK has mentioned it. » He called the prospect a « beautiful gesture ».
It comes after Mr Lavrov said Russia would not accept the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine.
The Russian foreign minister said: « Any appearance by armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is, of course, completely unacceptable. »
The US president also claimed he could have « made a deal » for Ukraine if he were commander-in-chief in 2022.
He said: « I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land.
« Everything, almost all of the land. And no people would have been killed and no city would have been demolished. »
In addition, Mr Trump repeated his wish that Ukraine hold elections as a condition of peace.
He alleged: « 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. » Polling carried out in December last year by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology suggests that, in late 2024, 52% of Ukrainians trust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky against 39% who said they did not trust him.
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. »
Presidential elections in Ukraine were meant to take place in the spring of 2024, but under the Ukrainian constitution, a vote can’t be held under martial law, which came into force after Russia launched its illegal invasion nearly three years ago.
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