Donald Trump will not ‘waste’ time meeting Vladimir Putin unless it was clear that the Kremlin leader is serious about a ceasefire in Ukraine.
After slapping new sanctions on Russia, the US president is scrapping the idea of a US-Russia summit – and abandoning a meeting with the Kremlin leader.
He told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Asia: ‘I am going to have to know that we are going to make a deal. I’m not going to be wasting my time.
‘I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing.’
An intended summit in Budapest between the presidents was to take place in the coming weeks, but was put on hold on Wednesday.
Trump said: ‘It just it didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I cancelled it.’
As well as calling off the meeting, Russia’s biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, along with dozens of its subsidiaries, were sanctioned to cause as much as possible economic pain.
This comes after Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Friday that he believes Russia, the US and Ukraine are ‘quite close to a diplomatic solution’ to end the three-year war.
Speaking to CNN after arriving in Washington, he said a planned summit in Budapest had not been cancelled but would likely occur later.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to suffer Russian advancements on the front line and airstrikes as deep as Kyiv – while talks to end the invasion seem to have fully stalled – prompting fresh pleas for Western air defence systems.
At least two people were killed and another 13 wounded in Russian missile and drone attacks on the capital overnight into Saturday.
A fire broke out in a non-residential building in one location, while debris from intercepted missiles fell in an open area at another site, damaging windows in nearby buildings, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Large clouds of smoke were seen over Kyiv as firefighters raced to put out fires across the city.
As of midday, they had localized one fire in a 13,000 square metre warehouse with the help of two helicopters, and had put out a fire in another building.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: ‘Almost every attack against our people now involves combined strikes using ballistic missiles.
‘Since the beginning of this year alone, Russia has launched approximately 770 ballistic missiles and more than 50 Kinzhal missiles against Ukraine.
‘It is precisely because of such attacks that we pay special attention to Patriot systems – to be able to protect our cities from this horror.
‘It is critical that partners who possess relevant capability implement what we have discussed in recent days.’
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