Oleg Davygora03:10, 17.05.25

He assured that he could, if necessary, impose “devastating” sanctions against the Russian Federation, but he would prefer not to do so.

US President Donald Trump has dismissed suggestions that Russia is not fully involved in the Ukrainian settlement process because the Russian leadership has not traveled to Turkey, CNN reports .

According to him, he himself allegedly did not intend to go to Istanbul so as not to interrupt his visit to Qatar and the UAE.

“Well, he (the Russian president) is at the negotiating table. He wanted this meeting. I just didn’t think there could be a meeting without me, because I don’t think a deal will work out without me, there’s a lot of hatred on each side. I have a very good relationship, and I think we will reach an agreement, we should meet,” he said.

Trump assured that he could impose “devastating” sanctions against Russia if necessary, but he would prefer not to do so:

“I think Putin is tired of all this. He doesn’t look very good, although he wants to look different. Don’t forget, this was supposed to be over in a week. And if he hadn’t gotten stuck in the mud with his tanks, he would have been in Kyiv in five hours.”

The US president expressed confidence that his meeting with Putin would be planned and held. At the same time, he said that Volodymyr Zelensky “does not have any trump cards in his negotiating position right now” regarding the settlement of the war in Ukraine.

“In four days, I made 12 times more than what we spent on Ukraine. But I was angry about where that money went – $60 billion. I think Zelensky is the best businessman in the world, much better than me. He comes to Washington, leaves with tens of millions of dollars every time,” Trump added.

(C)UNIAN 2025