American President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday, January 9, that he was preparing a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “end” the war in Ukraine. “He wants us to meet, and we’re in the process of arranging that,” he said before a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. “President Putin wants us to meet, he has even said it publicly, and we must put an end to this war, which is a real waste,” added the Republican billionaire.
During his annual televised question-and-answer session on December 19, Vladimir Putin said he was ready to meet Donald Trump “at any time.” “If we ever meet President-elect Trump, I am sure we will have a lot to say to each other,” he said.
Joe Biden’s successor, who will take office on January 20, promised during his election campaign to end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours”, and has already called for an “immediate ceasefire”. and talks.
“New chapter”
Europeans and Ukrainians fear that Donald Trump could force kyiv into major concessions and grant the Kremlin a geopolitical victory. His return to the White House will mark the opening of a “new chapter” for Europeans, Volodymyr Zelensky declared Thursday from Germany, on the occasion of the last meeting of the “contact group” of military supporters of kyiv before the American inauguration. The Ukrainian president, however, said he hoped to see this return to power as a “period of opportunities”.
Under the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, the United States has been Ukraine’s main supporter since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, providing more than $65 billion in military aid. Present in Germany this Thursday, American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin new military aid for kyiv amounting to around $500 million (485 million euros). While he acknowledged that the Trump administration “would make its own decisions”, he assured that the United States would “always be a reliable partner in the future” because their “values” and their “commitment to (their) allies and partners do not change”. “The fight in Ukraine concerns us all,” he said without naming Donald Trump.