By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump known as on Sunday for an instantaneous ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to finish “the madness”, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy and the Kremlin to record their situations.
Trump made his feedback simply hours after assembly Zelenskiy in Paris for his or her first face-to-face talks since Trump received final month’s U.S. election. Trump has vowed to carry a few negotiated finish to the battle, however to date has not supplied particulars.
“Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Fact Social, including that Kyiv had misplaced some 400,000 troopers. “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin.”
“I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!” Trump added, referring to Russian President Putin.
Trump, in Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral, sat down with Zelenskiy on Saturday for about an hour, together with host President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump and Zelenskiy shook arms and smiled, however it was unclear how the dialog had gone. Accounts of the talks from the French and Ukrainian sides mentioned solely that the discussions had been good and productive.
Zelenskiy reacted to Trump’s message on Sunday saying peace was not only a piece of paper, however wanted ensures.
“When we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first and foremost talk about effective guarantees for peace. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else,” he mentioned on X.
“It (the war) cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures. A ceasefire without guarantees can be reignited at any moment, as Putin has already done before. To ensure that Ukrainians no longer suffer losses, we must guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to occupation.”
It appeared Trump’s determine of 400,000 Ukrainian troopers misplaced within the warfare meant each killed and wounded. Zelenskiy mentioned 43,000 troopers had been killed within the warfare and that there had been 370,000 wounded troopers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov convened a convention name with reporters to handle Trump’s feedback.
Peskov mentioned Russia was open to talks, however that they needed to be primarily based on agreements reached in Istanbul in 2022 and on present realities on the battlefield the place Russian forces have been pushing ahead at their quickest price for the reason that early days of the warfare in 2022.
Putin has mentioned repeatedly {that a} preliminary settlement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators within the first weeks of the warfare at talks in Istanbul, which was by no means applied, might function the premise for future talks.
“Our position on Ukraine is well known,” mentioned Peskov.
“The conditions for an immediate stop to hostilities were set out by President Putin in his speech to the Russian Foreign Ministry in June of this year. It is important to recall that it was Ukraine that refused and continues to refuse negotiations,” he mentioned.
Putin has mentioned that Ukraine should not be a part of the NATO navy alliance and that Russia must be left absolutely in charge of 4 Ukrainian areas his troops partially management in the intervening time for a peace deal to be performed.
Peskov famous that Zelenskiy had banned contacts with the Russian management via a particular decree, which Peskov mentioned must be revoked if talks have been to proceed.
