"Hard for them to be in the same room": Trump did not consider a Putin–Zelensky meeting necessary
US President Donald Trump stated that an agreement to end the war could be reached even without a direct meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine. He once again called on Volodymyr Zelenskyy to agree to the proposed terms.
"Hard for them to be in one room": Trump does not consider a Putin–Zelenskyy meeting necessary
Trump said this during a conversation with journalists in the Oval Office of the White House on October 20.
"I think they can do it another way, too. It's hard for them to be in one room. I don't care how the deal is reached," Trump said.
The US president also reiterated his view that there is "huge" hatred between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He also stressed that the leader of Ukraine must seek an agreement to end the war.
"He's going to have to want to make a deal, because I don't think his people can take it anymore," Trump said.
The US president claimed that Washington has provided massive aid to Ukraine, but in return "received nothing but sorrow, death, and huge financial loss." According to him, both American taxpayers and European Union countries are tired of financially supporting Ukraine.
During the conversation, the issue of 73-year-old American Stephen Hubbard, who is in a Russian prison, was also raised. Trump stated that he had asked Putin to release him during their communication.
Hubbard was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison in Russia in October 2024 under a mercenarism charge. According to the Russian investigation, he had lived in Ukraine since 2014, joined the territorial defense of the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region in February 2022, and was captured by the Russian military in April.
The AFP agency previously reported that Hubbard had been tortured in a Russian prison.