Trump claims that Putin "would like to see a settlement" with Ukraine

According to the US president, Vladimir Putin wants to conclude an agreement aimed at ending the war with Ukraine, accusing Volodymyr Zelensky of resisting a compromise.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin wanted to reach an agreement to end the war with Ukraine, accusing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky of resisting a compromise.

“Well, I think Russia would like to make a deal, and we’ve talked about it several times, but Russia would like to make a deal… but for one reason or another, Zelensky doesn’t want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters on Saturday. Asked what Vladimir Putin had told him during their last call on Friday, Mr. Trump replied that “he would like to see a settlement. President Putin would like to see a settlement, very much so.”

Trump calls for a change of president in Ukraine

Prior to this, Donald Trump had sharply criticized his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, stating that it was time for Ukraine to "have a new president" and condemning Ukrainian strikes on Russian hydrocarbon infrastructure. "I suggest they get a new leader who can reach an agreement" with Russia to end the war, he told reporters at the White House.

Vladimir Putin's chief economic negotiator had welcomed the US president's call for a new president for Ukraine, describing the American leader's remarks as "iconic and historic."

"President Trump joins the many actors who believe that Ukraine needs genuinely peace-oriented leadership, not Zelensky's belligerent policy... Iconic and historic," said Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin's special envoy for economic cooperation, in a message posted on X.