6 months ago
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Behind closed-door meetings astatine White House, US President Donald Trump urged his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to judge Vladimir Putin’s presumption to extremity the war, informing that Russia would “destroy” Ukraine if it refused.The gathering betwixt the US and Ukrainian leaders descended respective times into a “shouting match”, with Trump “cursing each the time”, according to Financial Times.In the meeting, US president discarded maps of the frontline successful Ukraine, insisted Zelenskyy surrender the full Donbas portion to Putin, and repeatedly echoed talking points that the Russian person had made during their telephone the time before. Though Trump aboriginal endorsed a frost of the existent beforehand lines, the acrimonious gathering appeared to bespeak the capricious quality of the US president’s presumption connected the warfare and his willingness to endorse Putin’s maximalist demands. The gathering occurred amid a renewed propulsion by Trump to extremity Russia’s warfare pursuing the ceasefire secured betwixt Israel and Hamas. Zelenskyy and his squad visited the White House hoping to transportation Trump to proviso them with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. However, the US president yet declined to bash so. During Friday’s meeting, Trump appeared to person adopted galore of Putin’s talking points verbatim, adjacent erstwhile they contradicted his ain caller statements astir Russia’s weaknesses, European officials briefed connected the gathering said.
According to a European authoritative with cognition of the meeting, Trump told Zelenskyy that Putin had told him the struggle was a “special operation, not adjacent a war”, adding that the Ukrainian person needed to chopped a woody oregon look destruction. The authoritative said that Trump told Zelenskyy helium was losing the war, warning: “If [Putin] wants it, helium volition destruct you.”At 1 constituent successful the meeting, the US president threw Ukraine’s maps of the battlefield aside, the authoritative acquainted with the brushwood said. According to the official, Trump said helium was “sick” of seeing the representation of the frontline of Ukraine repeatedly. “This reddish line, I don’t adjacent cognize wherever this is. I’ve ne'er been there,” Trump said, according to the official.
