Davos: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday said US President Donald Trump has told him that he wanted the war to end but wondered whether there was a clear vision as yet for exit from the war.
“Our teams have been in the process of organising the meeting with President Trump. Discussions so far have been very atmospheric, these have been very general meetings. So far we don’t have a date,” Zelenskyy told a select media grouping here during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
“Any phone call with Putin was not discussed with me but he said we’ll talk and we’ll work something out,” he said in reply to a question.
“If leaders are not talking and intelligence services are talking, that would not work for us,” he said while insisting that Russian President Vladimir Putin must come to the table.
“At the same time, it needs to be made clear that we are not equal. We are the victim and Putin is the occupier. We didn’t start the war, he did. But we want to finish the war and Trump said he also wants to end the war. But Putin doesn’t want to end the war because he has not got what he wanted,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he doesn’t exactly know what is in Trump’s mind how he can end the war.
“I’m not sure he has a vision yet of exit from the war… It’s important to bring Putin to the table,” he said.
“If President Trump wants us on NATO, everyone will support and we will be there but if President Trump is not prepared to have Ukraine in NATO it will be difficult for us, he said.
“We clearly understand that the US will have a lead role and I feel Europe should also have a bigger role because Ukraine belongs to Europe,” he said on any possible peace formula.
The US and Europe have been involved in the entire process and they are best placed to be part of any peace process, he added.
“I don’t have any concrete plan from China, and Brazil has come out with its own plan. For peace summit, we invited everyone. Global South countries must join us, else everything will happen without them,” he added.
PTI
