Zelenskyy urges Trump to take ‘clear position’ on Russia sanctions
It’s time for Donald Trump to get off the fence.
That’s the message from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has called for the American president to take a “clear position” on Russia.
Trump’s efforts to broker peace — or at least a peace summit — between Russia and Ukraine have fizzled out, with Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffing U.S. diplomacy and intensifying his attacks on Ukraine while sticking to his maximalist demands.
Trump has stopped short of imposing his promised punishment on the Kremlin, and Ukraine’s allies have so far not outlined a defined set of security guarantees they could offer Kyiv to help bring an end to the war.
“Donald Trump has enough force to make Putin afraid of him,” Zelenskyy told Sky News in an interview Monday.
Europe has “already introduced 18 sanctions packages” against Russia,” said Zelenskyy. “All that’s lacking now is a strong sanctions package from the U.S.,” he added. “More needs to be done, quicker.”
On security guarantees, Zelenskyy said: “Before we end the war, I really want to have all the agreements in place,” and a “document that is supported by the US and all European partners.”
“To make this happen, we need a clear position of President Trump,” he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Trump and Zelenskyy will “probably” meet in New York next week during the United Nations General Assembly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.
The president is trying “everything possible” to bring the war to an end, Rubio told reporters during a trip to the Middle East.
Trump said Saturday that he was “ready to do major Sanctions on Russia” once all NATO countries have started “to do the same thing” and pause their purchases of oil from Moscow.
Trump met with Putin in Alaska in August in an attempt to bring an end to the war, but Russia has since thrown cold water on Trump’s attempts to organize a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said Putin was “trying to find a way out of isolation” through diplomacy with Trump, saying the meeting in Alaska “gave a lot to Putin.”
“I believe, if it was a trilateral meeting, we would have some result,” he added.
Days after his meeting with Putin, Trump promised during a meeting with European leaders in Washington that the U.S. would provide security guarantees as part of any settlement with Russia, a red-line issue for Kyiv.
Russia said such talks were a “road to nowhere” without its involvement.