Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
President Donald Trump On Thursday, he said he would skip the peacekeeping negotiations of Russia-Krain in Istanbul and diminished the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin not to attend.
The president pressed Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet in Istanbul. However, speaking at the business round table with the managers in Doha as part of a four -day tour of the region, Trump said he did not go because of the conflict in schedule.
“I actually said, why would you go if I didn’t go?” Trump said the journalist asked him if he was disappointed with Putin’s decision not to attend peace negotiations. “I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I wasn’t there.”
Trump has floated earlier this week with the idea of having potentially attending himself. But he noticed during a business round table State Secretary Marco Rubio He was already in Istanbul at meetings with NATO colleagues. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is also planning to be in Istanbul on Friday for expected talks about Russia-Ukrain.
Trump considers joining the negotiations on Russia-Ukrain in Turkey, unclear whether Putin will show
US President Donald J. Trump meets with business leaders at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on May 15, 2025 in Doha, Katar. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The incentive for direct conversations between Zelenskyy and Putin comes in the middle of a noise of negotiations aimed at creating an agreement on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Rubio takes the gloomy tone on a quiet Russia-Ukrainian agreement: ‘Near, but not close enough’
Putin was the first to suggest a re -launch of direct peace negotiations with Ukraine in the Turkish city to run into Asia and Europe on Thursday. Zelenskyy caused the Kremlin leader to meet in person in Turkey.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Russian delegation and some officials ahead of the Istanbul talks, May 14, 2025 in Moscow, Russia. (Kremlj Press Office / Anadolu via Getty Images)
But Kremlin said his delegation to the interviews would be led by Putin’s assistant Vladimir Medinsky and includes three other officials. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy would only sit with a Russian leader.
Speaking in Doha, Trump said that the war of Russia-Ukraine “has to stop”. The president regretted lost lives and money spent on war efforts.
“We spent $ 350 billion there – we just handed over. Nobody even knows where the money is. No accounting. There’s no one. That just gives him money,” Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Rubio denies Trump to exclude Ukraine from Russia, pushes on NATO criticism
“I have to hand him over. I think he’s the biggest seller, maybe in history. Every time he came to the United States, he would go with $ 100 billion. That’s a good seller, isn’t he?” Said Trump. “The last time he didn’t do it. He only got $ 60 billion.”
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press conference in Kiyiva, Ukraine, May 13, 2025. (Ukradform/Nurphoto via Getty Images)
Zelenskyy last visited the White House in February, but the tensions quickly broke out with President Trump and Vice -President JD Vance. Two leaders had met Pope Francis funeral last month last month.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Later on Thursday, Trump will visit an American installation in Qatar in the center of US involvement in the Middle East. He used his four -day visit to the Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of the American past in the region.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
