He accuses the Ukrainian president of being “ungrateful” and warns that he “does not have the cards” to negotiate
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has stated this Friday that he has begun to “delimit” a peace agreement with Russia at the beginning of his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, characterized by a high-pitched discussion between the two, when the American president has reproached his guest that he is “playing with World War III”.
“We have begun to delimit an agreement and I think it can happen,” Trump has declared in the prelude to the closed-door meeting that he will hold with Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House.
Trump and Zelensky will sign a memorandum of understanding under which Ukraine will grant the United States access to its “rare earths” in exchange for continued American aid against the Russian invasion.
“We are looking forward to starting to dig, dig and dig to get this land,” Trump added before highlighting the “great commitment” that the agreement represents for his country. The president has stressed that this agreement will bring an important economic benefit to his country, although he wanted to clarify that the most important thing for him is peace in Ukraine.
“I am doing this to save lives, more than anything else. Secondly, to save a lot of money, but I consider that to be much less important,” he said, accompanied by the Ukrainian president, in a meeting that is also intended to smooth things over after Zelensky expressed his fear of a possible agreement between Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine without the participation of kyiv in the negotiations.
In this regard, the Ukrainian president has asked Trump to “not make concessions to a murderer,” referring to Putin, and has expressed confidence that the American president “will be on the side of Ukraine” while the war lasts. In response, Trump has stated that the United States “is not aligned with anyone” and that its only loyalty is to its country and “the good of the world.”
“PLAYING WITH THE THIRD WORLD WAR”
What initially began as a peaceful conversation ended up degenerating into a tense discussion in front of the media when the question of the origins of the war and American support began to appear.
“Do you think it is respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America,” insisted at that time the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, “and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”
At that point, Trump joined in the criticism and warned Zelensky that he was not, by any means, in a position to make demands.
“You don’t have enough troops,” Trump added. “You can’t tell us whether I want a ceasefire or not. You are disrespecting our country. I know you are not winning,” the US president declared, already amid constant interruptions.
“Right now you don’t have the cards in your hand. You are playing with the lives of millions, you are playing with World War III. And what you are doing is very disrespectful to this country,” he added.
