President Donald Trump says he is confident a deal can be reached to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“I think that he wants to make a deal,” Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I made eight of them. I’m going to make a ninth,” the president added.
“But I love solving wars. You know why? I like stopping people from being killed, and I’ve saved millions and millions of lives, and I think we’re going to have success with this war,” Trump said during a meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sitting across the table from Trump at the White House, Zelenskyy said he thinks there is “momentum to finish Russia’s war against Ukraine” following the ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel that the Trump administration led the way in brokering last week.
“President Trump [has] really showed for the world that he can manage [a] ceasefire in Middle East, and that’s why I hope that he will do this and we will also have such big success for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
“Nobody thought it could be done. That was one nobody thought could be done, and we got it done,” Trump said of the peace deal that has ended fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Trump welcomed Zelenskyy to the White House one day after having a call with Putin that Trump described as “productive.” Trump and Putin plan to hold a second summit in Budapest, Hungary in the near future aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
While Trump admitted Putin might be aiming to buy himself more time to continue the war against Ukraine, Trump said he’s “been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well.”
“So it’s possible, little time, it’s all right, but I think that I’m pretty good at this stuff,” Trump said.
The Trump administration has had a hand in ending conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia; Israel and Iran; the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda; India and Pakistan; Egypt and Ethiopia; Serbia and Kosovo; Armenia and Azerbaijan; and most recently, between Israel and Hamas.
Weapons, including Tomahawk missiles, were expected to play a central role in closed-door conversations between Trump, Zelenskyy, and top leaders at the White House on Friday afternoon.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get the war over with without thinking about tomahawks,” Trump told press ahead of the closed-door portion of the meeting. Trump did not say the U.S. would not provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, but said the U.S. needs the weaponry in America for U.S. defense purposes as well.
For Ukraine’s part, Zelenskyy said security guarantees are the most important thing to ensure a safe future for his country.
“NATO is the best, but weapons are very important,” Zelenskyy said. “Allies on our side is very important, and … for us, bilateral security guarantees between me and President Trump is very important.”
While it is very unlikely Ukraine will be admitted into NATO, Putin has previously indicated he is open to a peace deal that would include security guarantees for Ukraine, though it is not clear which guarantees the Russian leader would be willing to agree to.
