As the war between Russia and Ukraine escalated in the past week, United States President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met one-on-one on Saturday.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the burial of Pope Francis in Rome.
Commenting on the development, Zelensky posted: “Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting the lives of our people.”
“Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out.”
“Very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
This meeting comes after US President, Donald Trump, issued a warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a post on his Truth Social media platform, Trump had warned that Ukraine’s president could end up fighting for another three years and ultimately lose the country to Russia.
He condemned Zelensky for stating that Ukraine would not recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
Trump lashed out, calling Zelensky’s defiance “an inflammatory statement that will make a peace deal with Russia harder to achieve.”
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion,” the president had stated on Truth Social.
“He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump wrote.
It was not the first time Trump had threatened Zelensky; he did so after the now-infamous spat between himself, Vice President JD Vance, and the Ukrainian president at the White House earlier this year.
The new threats came after the United States government warned it could pull out of peace talks if progress was not made in the coming days. Earlier, talks between the U.S., Ukraine, and European officials to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine faltered on Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly cancelled his trip to London, and negotiations were downgraded.
Zelensky has continued to assert that Ukraine, under his leadership, is ready for peace, accusing Russia of refusing to accept peace or any conditions for it.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that nine people were killed following a Russian attack on Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also today accused Russia of killing nine people in renewed attacks on the country.
In a statement, he accused Russia of committing war crimes:
“Doctors in the Dnipro region are currently providing all necessary assistance to those injured this morning in a Russian FPV drone strike.”
“It was an egregiously brutal attack – and an absolutely deliberate war crime. In the city of Marhanets, the Russians struck a bus which was transporting workers of a mining and processing plant.”
He noted that the target was a civilian bus:
“An ordinary bus. Clearly a civilian object, a civilian target. More than 40 people were injured, most of them women, and some received very severe wounds.”
“Tragically, 9 people were killed. My condolences go out to their families and loved ones.”
