Donald Trump insists that Russia and Ukraine both accepted the energy truce he announced, even as Moscow keeps striking Ukrainian power facilities. Asked how he plans to force Vladimir Putin to respect it, the US president said he would have to look into the reports.
The question came during a conversation with journalists, in which Trump was asked how he intends to make the Russian leader abide by the halt in attacks on energy objects that he had announced himself. He replied that, in his view, it is Putin who is more eager for a deal than Volodymyr Zelensky.
– Actually, I think Putin wants to make a deal more than Zelensky – Trump said.
Pressed on what he based his claims on in the context of the war in Ukraine, he gave an evasive answer, saying he believed both leaders would come to an understanding.
A war that 'must be resolved’
Trump repeated that conviction several times while responding to other, similar questions. He argued that the two presidents have to sit down and put an end to the fighting, and he cited the monthly death toll to underline his point.
– Zelensky and Putin must get together and finish this ridiculous war. This month they lost 32 thousand people in this war, it’s absurd – he said.
Asked why he had announced the energy ceasefire even though neither country knew anything about it, the American leader stated that both had agreed to it.
– You know why? Because I said: you agree. They agreed because I said they agreed. This war must be resolved. This war is a catastrophe – he declared.
He also said he needed to examine reports that Russia had violated the arrangement.
Refineries spared, power plants still in the crosshairs
Despite the energy truce announced by Trump on Sunday, Russia did not stop its strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Monday in an interview with Fox News that his country had not attacked Russian refineries a day earlier. He refused, however, to declare that Kyiv would keep holding back if Russia continued to hit Ukrainian power plants.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
