U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin is more interested in a deal to end the war in Ukraine than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also urged the two leaders to meet and reach an agreement. The U.S. president's remarks were published by Clash Report, according to infohub.kz.
"I think Putin wants to make a deal, and we have to get Zelensky to want to make that deal," Trump said.
The U.S. president repeated that he considers Moscow more interested in an agreement.
"I actually think Putin wants to make a deal more than Zelensky," he said.
Trump also expressed the view that both leaders want to reach an agreement but do not know how to do so. According to him, the United States intends to help them achieve a deal.
"Putin and Zelensky want to make a deal, but they don't know how. But we will get them to make a deal," the U.S. president said.
Trump did not specify any concrete terms of a possible agreement or a timeframe for a meeting in the remarks cited.
Trump also said he made a diesel deal with Russia in the interests of other countries.
"I actually made a diesel deal with Russia not for myself. I did it for the rest of the world," the U.S. president said.
Earlier, on October 11, Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy truce" — a halt to strikes on each other's energy infrastructure. However, Zelensky said Kyiv was ready to observe such a regime on condition of reciprocity and reported continued Russian attacks on energy facilities. The Kremlin said discussions on a possible agreement are ongoing.