Vance: Trump should bring Zelenskyy and Putin to negotiating table
US Vice President JD Vance does not believe it would be productive for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet before meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Source: Vance in an interview with Fox News, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Vance had been asked whether it would be better for Putin to meet Zelenskyy before meeting Trump.
Quote: "I actually don’t think it would be that productive. I think fundamentally the president of the United States has to be the one to kind of bring these two together.
We are of course going to talk to the Ukrainians – I actually just spoke with the Ukrainians this morning, Marco [Rubio – ed.] has been talking to them quite a bit – we are going to keep that dialogue open, but fundamentally this is something where the president needs to force President Putin and President Zelenskyy really to sit down to figure out their differences."[N.B. Ukrainska Pravda does not recognise Putin as president – ed.]
More details: The US vice president said he considers the upcoming Trump-Putin meeting to be a diplomatic breakthrough.
Quote: "Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Zelenskyy, the head of Ukraine, and the president has now got that to change. We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict."
Background:
- The Trump-Putin meeting is scheduled to take place in Alaska on 15 August amid media reports that Washington and Moscow are apparently seeking an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that could cement Russia’s occupation of part of its territory.
- In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that "the answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already in the Constitution of Ukraine".
- On the night of 9-10 August, a joint statement addressed to Trump and Putin was released by the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Poland and the UK, the president of the European Commission, and the president of Finland.
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