Ankara (TIP): US President Donald Trump said that he met with senior Russian officials in Washington on Thursday Nov 5, , raising the prospect of a “big, beautiful deal” to end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump went on to pledge that a Ukraine peace deal “might involve all of Europe”.
Trump said he met with “the head person of Russia” at the White House earlier in the day, an apparent reference to Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dmitriev had come to Washington for an event with US First Lady Melania Trump. “I can’t tell you what I discussed,” Trump told reporters, “but I’m just telling you, there’s going to be an agreement, it’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine.”
Trump’s remarks on the matter came after his son-in-law and US envoy Jared Kushner said the United States, Nato, and European partners held “productive and substantive discussions” on resolving the war in Ukraine Thursday.
“Our objective is to address the security concerns of all sides through practical, mutually agreed arrangements that reduce the risk of future conflict,” he wrote on X, ahead of discussions next week in Abu Dhabi involving Kyiv and Moscow.
In the past, the American president has been widely criticised by the Democrats and even some Republicans for being “too solicitous” to his Russian counterpart. When asked in the Oval Office on Thursday about the Russian attack on Ukrainian civilians, Trump insisted that Ukraine was also culpable. “The other way, they kill, too,” he said.
Dmitriev and a Russian delegation were hosted by Melania Trump at the White House on Thursday. The American first lady also gathered Ukrainian officials to discuss a recent cease-fire she helped broker to evacuate a Russian-occupied Ukrainian town, Oleshky. It is pertinent to note that Dmitriev also runs Russia’s flagship state investment fund, has led the Kremlin’s effort to pitch business deals to the Trump administration and has sought sanctions relief for his fund in those talks. While speaking at the White House, the Russian envoy thanked the first lady for her “distinguished humanitarian role” in securing the six-day truce. He added that Putin personally gave instructions as part of the operation and sent his thanks to Melania Trump.
The head of the parliamentary faction of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party, Davyd Arakhamia, and Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, also spoke at the event. Arakhamia noted that Melania did an “amazing job” and encouraged her to keep helping the Ukrainian people. “Definitely, we would like to ask you to keep going and to find new missions and to de-escalate as much as possible,” Arakhamia said.
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