(Picture: Reuters)
President Donald Trump has appeared with Volodymyr Zelensky to try to close out a peace agreement that would end nearly four years of war with Russia.
The talks came as Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital with one man has died and three other people were injured in a Russian bomb attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk.
Greeting Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said of him: ‘This gentleman has worked very hard, and is very brave, and his people are very brave.’
The US President asked by a reporter whether Russia had launched strong attacks in recent hours showed Vladimir Putin wasn’t serious about peace.
Trump replied: ‘No, he is very serious. I can say that I believe that Ukraine has launched some strong attacks also. I don’t say that negatively, I think you have to.
‘I think there have been explosions in various parts of Russia and I don’t think they came from the Congo, I don’t think it came from the United States. It possibly came from Ukraine. I haven’t asked yet.’
He added: ‘We have two willing parties, two willing countries who want to see it end. The people of Ukraine and the people of Russia want it to end. The two leaders want it to end.
‘Otherwise, it’s going to go on for a long time.
‘And millions of additional people are going to be killed. Millions and we don’t want that.’
Zelensky said he’d discuss issues of territorial concessions with Trump, which have so far been a red line for his country.
Zelensky hopes the talks will ‘bring peace as quickly as possible’.
He said his negotiators and Trump’s ‘have discussed how to move step by step and bring peace closer’ and would continue to do so in the meeting.
Trump told reporters he would move rapidly and update Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting.
Kyiv officials said three guided aerial bombs launched by Russia struck private homes in Sloviansk overnight into Sunday.
That came a day after Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least one person and wounding 27.
Explosions boomed across Kyiv as the attack began early on Saturday and continued for hours.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, said a phonecall was initiated by the US side, lasted over an hour, and was ‘friendly, benevolent, and businesslike.’
Trump and Zelensky are meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, where the US president is spending the holidays.