Trump: "Zelenskyy, Things Will Get Worse If You Don't Agree to End the War"

"Russia Is a Very Big Country," Trump Presses Ukraine
"U.S. and Europe Are Very Tired of Supporting Ukraine"

UPI Yonhap News

U.S. President Donald Trump said on October 20 (local time) that it was time to end the war in Ukraine and that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should agree to a deal to end the fighting. With the possibility of peace negotiations on Ukraine involving the leaders of the United States, China and Russia being raised at next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the remarks are being seen as a strategy to secure an early agreement to end the war from Ukraine.

According to CNN, at a press conference at the White House that day, President Trump said, "Now is the time to agree [to end the war], and we want Zelenskyy to agree. He can agree," adding, "Zelenskyy should want to end this war. If he doesn't, things will get very bad." He thus put strong pressure on Ukraine to hurry up and agree to end the war.

President Trump continued, "Russia is a very big country. They have a large population. They have a lot of people they can mobilize. Ukraine, on the other hand, doesn't have many people it can mobilize," adding, "We have provided $350 billion to Ukraine. The United States has spent a tremendous amount of money. Europe has spent a tremendous amount of money, too. American taxpayers and Europe are tired of this situation now."

President Trump's remarks came amid discussion of a possible meeting of the leaders of the United States, China and Russia at the APEC summit, which is scheduled to be held in Shenzhen, China, on November 18. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously proposed a trilateral summit at APEC to discuss ending the war in Ukraine during a phone call with President Trump on October 9.

Ukraine has strongly objected to peace negotiations among the three countries that exclude it, saying they cannot take place. At a press conference in Oslo, Norway, that day, President Zelenskyy said, "I don't know what a trilateral meeting between the United States, China and Russia would be about. That's up to them," adding, "But if Ukraine and our future are being discussed, we can accept it only if we are at the negotiating table."

President Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for a trilateral summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that some issues can only be resolved by the leaders themselves.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.