The US president has defended holding back sanctions on Russia to preserve negotiations, while Moscow says it values Washington\u2019s mediation efforts<\/p>\n
Negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict are making \u201cgreat progress,\u201d US President Donald Trump has said, defending his decision to hold back economic pressure on Russia to keep diplomacy moving.
\nIn a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said his priority is securing a settlement rather than taking steps that could undermine ongoing negotiations.
\n\u201cI am in the process of negotiating peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don\u2019t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,\u201d he wrote.
\n\u201cGreat progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!\u201d Trump added, without specifying who he meant. His administration has previously negotiated the release of several Americans held in Russia and has also helped mediate several prisoner-of-war exchanges between Moscow and Kiev, including a May agreement providing for the return of 1,000 prisoners on each side.\u00a0
\nThe president\u2019s remarks followed his waiver of sweeping penalties pushed by the late US lawmaker Lindsey Graham, dubbed the \u201csanctions from hell,\u201d including tariffs targeting Russia and major purchasers of its energy. Washington also eased restrictions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month to alleviate rising global fuel prices.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Zelensky never wanted to end war with Russia \u2013 Trump<\/p>\n
Trump noted that he retains the option to enact the sanctions later, but argued that Russia is \u201cdoing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way.\u201d
\nHe also accused Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky of resisting a settlement despite extensive Western funding, while criticizing Kiev\u2019s continued attacks on Russian refineries for disrupting global diesel markets.
\nMoscow welcomed Washington\u2019s continued diplomatic engagement on Monday. \u201cThe American side continues its mediation and peacemaking efforts, which we highly appreciate,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
\nHowever, a final settlement is impossible without participation by someone representing Kiev who is prepared to take responsibility, he added.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Zelensky knows peace deal would end his regime \u2013 Lavrov (VIDEO)<\/p>\n
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s investment envoy and a participant in negotiations, also applauded Trump\u2019s message for exposing Zelensky\u2019s \u201ctrue hidden motivation\u201d and pointing out that the Ukrainian leader \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to end this war, and probably never did.\u201d
\nAt Friday\u2019s EU summit in Brussels, Zelensky sought another \u20ac70 billion ($78.5 billion) in foreign financing for next year, in addition to the \u20ac90 billion already being paid out by the bloc to bankroll Kiev\u2019s war effort.
\nSlovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rejected participation in further financing, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis ruled out guarantees from Prague. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, however, said the European Commission would nevertheless examine further funding options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president has defended holding back sanctions on Russia to preserve negotiations, while Moscow says it values Washington\u2019s mediation efforts Negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict are making \u201cgreat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t