BURSTPresident Trump on Friday called for Russia and Ukraine to immediately halt fighting as he renews efforts to settle the more than three-year war.
Trump issued the demand on his social media site Truth Social shortly after he finished an “interesting" and "cordial” meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
“But I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL!,” he wrote. “Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts. They should stop where they are.”
Zelensky, speaking to reporters outside the White House after the meeting, said he agreed with Trump about an immediate ceasefire, to freeze the battle lines and negotiate an end to the war.
“I think we have to stop where we are; the president is right,” Zelensky said, but he added negotiations must take place to decide the fate of Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation.
“The question of territories is a very sensitive question, very sensitive and the most difficult really,” Zelensky said, adding Russians "want to occupy everything."
"But now they want, before any kind of ceasefire, to make a deal about land, about our territories," he continued. "Our position is that look, first we need ceasefire, so we need to sit and speak and to understand where we are, and I think this is the most important first step.“
Zelensky came to the U.S. to push Trump to provide more support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Putin militarily, economically and diplomatically.
While Trump expressed last month that he felt Ukraine could recover all its territory under Russian occupation, he came away from a phone call with Putin on Thursday optimistic a deal could be struck.
“Let both claim Victory, let History decide! No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent,” Trump wrote in his social media post.
“NO MORE, GO HOME TO YOUR FAMILIES IN PEACE!”
Trump is preparing to meet Putin in Budapest, Hungary, soon, in a bid to end the war. He last met Putin this summer in Alaska and walked away from that meeting backtracking on his demand for a ceasefire. Instead, he encouraged Putin and Zelensky to meet for negotiations, which never materialized.