Donald Trump: “Maybe Putin doesn’t want to end the war at all”

After a conversation between US President Donald Trump with the Ukrainian head of state Wolodymyr Selenskyj in Rome on the sidelines of the funeral service for Pope Francis, there is new hope for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine. Selenskyj said after the individual meetings with Trump, with the French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s head of government Georgia Meloni and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Ukraine was ready for unconditional ceasefire. Now Russia is asked to agree.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow previously said after US talks with Trump’s special sent Steve Witkoff that President Putin was ready for direct negotiations with Ukraine without priority. “During yesterday’s conversation with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Wladimir Putin confirmed that the Russian side is ready to resume the negotiation process with Ukraine without priority,” said Peskow, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

After the three -hour meeting Witkoff, Trump had explained with Putin that there could be an agreement in the conflict. So far, Putin had repeatedly emphasized his willingness to talk to Kyiv. However, he then explained that Selenskyj had to withdraw his decree that prohibits such conversations. If this fell away as a prerequisite, there could be a situation as at the beginning of the war when Ukrainian and Russians negotiated directly about an end to the war.

After the meeting with Selenskyj in St. Peter’s Basilica, which is said to have only taken 15 minutes and was very peaceful compared to her dispute in February, doubts about the conversations with Putin. The US President strives for a quick end of the war. Now he criticized Putin, whom he actually appreciates, and asked whether the Kremlin chief had an interest in ending the war.

Trump threatened Russia with sanctions. On the return flight from Rome to the USA on his online language tube, he wrote Truth Social that there was no reason for Putin to fire rockets in civilian areas, cities and villages in Ukraine in the past few days. “It makes me think: Maybe he doesn’t want to end the war, but just keeps me – and has to be treated differently,” continued Trump.

The US President named so-called secondary sanctions, i.e. measures against third countries, companies or individuals who continue to do business with Russia. He also indicated that he wanted to continue to cut Russia from the international banking system. They are unusually sharp words that Trump now loses through Putin.

Russia increases sanctions economically. But Western experts also repeatedly explain that Moscow is unexpectedly well against it. Russia emphasizes not to be politically influenced by the punitive measures. The western sanctions have not yet been able to stop the war.

Selenskyj described his first reunion with Trump since her dispute in February as a “good meeting”. “We discussed a lot under four eyes,” said Selenskyj on the X platform. The white house spoke of a “very productive” meeting.

“A reliable and permanent peace that will prevent the outbreak of a new war,” said Selenskyj about his goal in the negotiations. He thanked Trump for the conversation: “A very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historical when we achieve common results.”

In his contribution to Truth Social, Trump also emphasized that a return of the peninsula in Crimea in 2014 in 2014 was a “ridiculous demand”. The Republican wrote again that the war could never have started and would not have been started if he had been president at the time.

Trump also wants to get Selenskyj concessions. Selenskyj had so far categorically rejected a waiver of the Black Sea Peninsula of Crimea or other areas incorporated by Moscow in the east of Ukraine. The leadership in Moscow speaks of progress in the negotiations with Washington, but points out that detailed questions should still be clarified for the termination of the war.

According to the Ministry of Department, Moscow, according to the Ministry of Defense, fully recaptured the Russian region of Kursk from the Ukrainian armed forces. The Ukrainian troops were marched in there at the beginning of August and had taken dozens of towns.

“The plans of the Kiev regime to create a so -called strategic bridgehead and to disturb our offensive in Donbass have failed,” said Russia’s chief of staff Waleri Gerassimow. Putin congratulated the troops on the “victory”.

In contrast, the Ukrainian general staff described Moscow’s claims as “wishful thinking”. The fights continued, it said in Kyiv. The information from the warring parties from an independent side cannot be checked.

Russia had always mentioned the reconquest of the Kursk region as a condition in order to enter into negotiations for peace with Ukraine. For Kremlin chief Putin, the invasion of the Ukrainian troops was exposure because it also showed the vulnerability of the Russian state border.

Ukraine always saw the invasion as part of the defense against the Russian attack war. In contrast, Western military experts also criticized the fact that Kiev’s armed forces were missing from other important sections of the front in Ukraine. Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian attack war for more than three years.