Camilla Jessen
Trump says both Zelensky and Putin want a deal.
Donald Trump has claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to strike a peace deal with Russia, following a face-to-face meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on January 22, hours after meeting Zelensky in Switzerland. He said the Ukrainian leader expressed a willingness to reach an agreement with Moscow.
“He said he’d like to make a deal. … He came and he said he wants to make a deal,” Trump said.
Soon after the meeting, Zelensky announced that Ukraine would take part in trilateral talks with the United States and Russia in the United Arab Emirates starting January 23.
Change in tone
Earlier this month, Trump had suggested that Zelensky was preventing progress toward peace. His latest comments indicate a reversal, placing responsibility elsewhere.
Trump also said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to make a deal. As he spoke, Trump’s envoys were meeting with Putin and his aides in Moscow ahead of the planned talks.
Pressed for specifics about the proposed agreement, Trump provided little new information. He said there were “no changes” and described the issues as “things that have been discussed for six or seven months.”
His comments at times drifted into vague metaphors. “You have metes and bounds, you have streets, you have rivers, you have everything — you know, where does it end?” he said, likening the conflict to a complex real estate dispute.
Human cost noted
Trump acknowledged the hardship facing Ukrainian civilians amid severe winter conditions and an ongoing energy crisis.
“It’s really tough for the people of Ukraine,” he said, describing life without heat in subzero temperatures. He did not mention that Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid.
Trump has been attempting to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine for more than a year, overseeing multiple rounds of talks that have produced limited results. Russia’s drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities have continued to intensify during that period.
Moscow has not indicated support for the U.S.–Ukraine peace framework finalized in December, though it has acknowledged receiving it. The plan is a revised version of a 28-point proposal that was originally co-drafted with Russian input and was seen as favoring Moscow.
Sources: statements by Donald Trump, World Economic Forum, The Kyiv Independent
