Ukrainian president says he hopes Trump’s recent remarks are ‘just his tactics and not the decision’ as negotiators meet in Switzerland. What we know on day 1,456
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Donald Trump was exerting undue pressure on him in trying to secure a resolution to the nearly four-year-old Russia-Ukraine war. Zelenskyy also said any plan requiring Ukraine to give up territory that Russia had not captured in the eastern Donbas region would be rejected by Ukrainians if put to a referendum. In an interview with Axios, Zelenskyy said it was “not fair” Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions in negotiating terms for a peace plan. “I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Zelenskyy said in an interview conducted as Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators held talks in Geneva.
Trump has twice in recent days suggested it was up to Ukraine and Zelenskyy to take steps to ensure the talks proved successful. “Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you,” Trump said on Air Force One on Monday.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said the opening day of talks in Geneva had focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions,” without providing details. Negotiations would resume on Wednesday for a final day, he said.
