Washington [US], April 28: US President Donald Trump expressed doubts about Russia's goodwill to negotiate and threatened sanctions in the context of continued tensions in the war in Ukraine.
Shortly before Pope Francis' funeral at the Vatican on April 26, President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met face-to-face for the first time since a tense war of words in February at the White House. According to Reuters, the meeting lasted only about 15 minutes, taking place at a key time in the negotiation process to end the hostilities between Ukraine and Russia.
Mr. Trump suspects Russia
After the meeting, President Trump publicly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time over the recent attacks in Ukraine. "There is no reason for Putin to launch missiles at civilian and urban areas in the past few days. That makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to end the war," Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform while on his way home. The U.S. leader expressed skepticism about Russia's willingness to negotiate and suggested it might have to deal with Moscow otherwise, through a "banking embargo or secondary sanctions."
President Trump's change in attitude toward Russia comes as he ramps up mediation efforts to end hostilities and threatens to withdraw from dialogue if an agreement is not reached soon. According to AFP, the White House recently pressed Ukraine to accept the final proposal to recognize Crimea as belonging to Russia in order to quickly end the conflict, which Kyiv and its European allies firmly oppose.
Mr. Trump is said to be facing a difficult reality when the parties are still very different about entering the negotiating table. After arriving in Rome at dawn on April 26, Trump wrote on Truth Social that "the majority of the main points have been agreed" and urged the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to meet to complete the agreement.
President Putin during a reception with White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff shortly before announced his readiness to resume negotiations "without conditions", but did not mention a ceasefire first. Observers say that with military superiority, it is clear that Russia is in no hurry to make concessions.
Ukraine accelerates diplomacy
Meanwhile, President Zelensky took advantage of the event at the Vatican to lobby Europe to oppose the proposal to end the conflict in favor of Russia. In addition to President Trump, Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reinforce his position of demanding an unconditional ceasefire before the talks.
The leaders of Britain and France also participated in brief talks with Trump and Zelensky and expressed a positive attitude about the negotiation process.
According to The Washington Post, European leaders are rushing to develop an alternative to the U.S. proposal, emphasizing the role of the ceasefire and Ukraine's territorial sovereignty as a prerequisite for any sustainable peace solution. However, it is unclear whether the United States is willing to consider this proposal.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin's statement after Witkoff's visit showed that Russia was not ready to accept a complete ceasefire before the negotiations, a major obstacle that was difficult to overcome. After President Trump's article yesterday, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that the bipartisan party is prepared to move forward with a trade embargo bill on countries that buy Russian oil and gas and other products if the country does not accept a fair and lasting peace agreement.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
