President Trump says Ukraine has no 'trump card' in negotiations
President Trump said Mr. Zelensky has no trump cards in the negotiations to resolve the Ukraine issue.
According to RIA Novosti on May 17, US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, expressed his confidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky currently has no "trump card" in his negotiating position to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
"I always said he doesn't have any aces, and frankly, he doesn't have any aces," President Trump said when commenting on the negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Trump added that he had a difficult time with Mr Zelensky and noted that he still considered him “the greatest dealmaker in the world”.
Meanwhile, answering a question about whether he considered the Russian President an “obstacle” to the negotiations, President Trump said: "Look, I had a very difficult conversation with Mr. Zelensky because I didn't like what he said and he didn't want to make things easier."
President Trump added that Russian leaders are fully engaged in the negotiations to resolve the Ukraine issue. And although Russian leader Putin was absent from the Istanbul talks, President Trump said that Putin wanted the meeting to take place.
Mr Trump stressed that he had no plans to go to Türkiye and did not expect to meet the Russian president. "But without me, there's no deal. So we need to meet, I think we can agree on that," Mr Trump said.
At the same time, Mr. Trump reiterated that he would impose “devastating” sanctions on Russia if there was no agreement.
“I would do that. It would be devastating for Russia. They have a difficult economic situation, oil prices are low,” President Trump said.