As President Trump gears up for his high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for Friday in Alaska, he’s less than thrilled with statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has said he is unwilling to cede land to the Russian Federation in a potential peace deal.
Speaking to reporters at the White House Monday, Trump said he was “bothered” by some of Zelensky’s positions. He was especially irked that Zelensky claimed he needed constitutional authority to make a deal:
"I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he's done, very, very severely, disagree. This is a war that should have never happened," Trump said, reiterating his belief that the Ukrainian president is in part at fault for Russia’s illegal 2022 invasion.
"I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval’," Trump said. "I mean, he's got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap, because there'll be some land swapping going on."
Watch:
READ MORE: Ukraine's Zelensky Rejects Any Land for Peace Deals Ahead of Trump-Putin Meeting
President Trump Announces Big Meeting With Vladimir Putin - in Alaska!
Trump said some sort of land swap was basically inevitable to achieve an end to the Russia-Ukraine war:
“So, it’s good and there’s bad, but it’s very complex, because you have lines that are very uneven, and there’ll be some swapping. There’ll be some changes in land,” he said.
He described the upcoming summit as a “feel-out” meeting to determine whether Putin was actually serious about ending the devastating conflict.
Trump wouldn’t detail what exactly he hopes to get out of the meeting with Putin and described it as a "feel-out meeting," saying within "the first two minutes [he’ll] know exactly whether or not a deal can be made."
"I'm going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I'm going to be telling him, you got to end this war, you got to end it," Trump said, reiterating his belief that if he had won the 2020 election, Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine, saying "he wasn’t going to mess with me."
"I go into that thing fully loaded right up there, and we're going to see what happens," he continued. "It could be a good meeting, and we'll go a step further. We'll get it done.
He added that, despite reports to the contrary, he wasn’t planning on freezing Zelensky out of the conversation.
"I'd like to see a ceasefire very, very quickly, very quick," he continued. "And, we're going to be dealing with the European leaders and, we're going to be dealing with President Zelensky and hopefully we're going to have a great success."
Some pundits think that by giving up land, Ukraine would be rewarding Russia for its aggression. Others argue that if it achieves real peace and an end to the bloodshed, it’s a price worth paying.
Friday promises to be an interesting day in Alaska. RedState will update you with the latest as developments arise.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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