US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (January 22nd) that his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, was “very good” and reiterated that his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is that the war in Ukraine must end.
“This war has to end,” Trump told reporters when asked what he would tell Putin. “Many people were killed.
“The meeting was good,” Trump says
Trump said his meeting with Zelensky lasted about an hour, a timeline later confirmed by the White House.
“The meeting with President Zelensky was good,” Trump said. “We’ll see how it goes.
In response to questions from the media before leaving Davos, Trump said the US delegation would meet Putin “today or tomorrow”, although no further details were provided.
Trump also said he had not discussed the possibility of Zelensky joining the Board of Peace, the US-initiated international peace framework unveiled in Davos.
Trump says he is “reasonably close” to a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war
Trump said on Wednesday (21 January) that he was “reasonably close” to brokering an agreement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, even as he acknowledged the complexity of negotiations between Kiev and Moscow.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Trump said he was working to bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to end the nearly four-year-old war.
“It has to be done. Save a lot of lives, save millions of lives,” Trump said. “In the case of Ukraine and Russia, this huge hatred between President Zelensky and President Putin – that’s not good. That’s not good for the settlements.”
Trump added that while the UN should play a bigger role, he believes it is well-suited to mediate such conflicts.
“I’m good at this,” he said, referring to settling wars.
“They’d be stupid not to end it”
Trump said the two leaders understood the urgency of ending the conflict.
“I said Putin and Zelensky would be stupid not to end it now,” Trump said. “And I know they’re not stupid.
However, he admitted repeated failures in negotiations.
“Many times we had an agreement with Russia and Zelenskyy did not agree,” Trump said. “It’s a very difficult balance.
Ukraine is working on a peace framework
Zelenskyy previously said Ukrainian envoys were working with US officials to finalize documents related to the proposed peace settlement, including post-war security guarantees and economic recovery measures.
No timeline for a potential deal has been announced.
Putin signals readiness to fund Gaza reconstruction
Russian President Vladimir Putin also said Moscow was ready to allocate $1 billion of its frozen assets to help rebuild Gaza through the Trump-proposed Peace Council.
Putin said this during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Kremlin.
“We believe that the creation and effective functioning of a sovereign Palestinian state is the only way to a final solution to the Middle East conflict,” Putin said.
His comments came as leaders and senior officials from 19 countries joined Trump at a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace Charter in Davos, Switzerland.
Russia welcomes Trump’s peace initiative
Putin said he welcomed Trump’s peace efforts and confirmed Russia had been invited to the Peace Council.
Russia is ready to allocate $1 billion from its frozen assets in the United States to rebuild Gaza, Putin said, adding that a final decision on joining the governing council would be made after consultations with Moscow’s strategic partners.
