Russia Trump doubts Putin's will to end the war
US President Donald Trump threatens Russia with sanctions after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and expresses doubts about Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's willingness to end the war in Ukraine. On his flight back to the USA from Rome, Trump wrote on his online mouthpiece Truth Social that there had been no reason for Putin to fire missiles at civilian areas, towns and villages in Ukraine in recent days. "It makes me think: maybe he doesn't want to end the war, but is just stalling - and needs to be treated differently (...)", Trump continued.
26.04.2025, 16:21
SDA
The US President gave the example of so-called secondary sanctions, i.e. measures against third countries, companies or individuals who continue to do business with Russia. He also hinted at wanting to cut Russia off even further from the international banking system. Trump's words about Putin are unusually harsh. Just a few hours earlier, he had met with Zelenskyi in Rome on the sidelines of the funeral service for Pope Francis. The White House described the meeting as "very productive".
Crimean peninsula a recurring topic in negotiations
It was the first meeting between the two statesmen since a scandal at the White House at the end of February. In his post on Truth Social, Trump also emphasized that returning the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, to Ukraine was a "ridiculous demand". The Republican wrote again that the war should never have started and would not have started if he had been president at the time.
Trump wants to end the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and also wants to extract concessions from Zelensky. So far, Zelenskyi has categorically refused to give up the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea or other territories in eastern Ukraine annexed by Moscow. On Friday, following talks with his special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, Trump wrote that the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine were close to a conclusion.
Putin does not attend funeral service in Rome
Russia was only represented at the memorial service in Rome by Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova. Although the leadership in Moscow speaks of progress in the negotiations with Washington, it points out that detailed questions regarding an end to the war still need to be clarified.
Following the talks with Witkoff, Moscow had once again shown itself open to direct negotiations with Ukraine - as it did at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in 2022. However, Kremlin leader Putin has always demanded that Zelensky withdraw his decree banning such negotiations.
