Trump says Putin should be allowed to keep land he confiscated in Ukraine

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Friday and shortly afterward declared that Russia should be allowed to keep the Ukrainian land it has seized since dictator Vladimir Putin invaded it nearly four years ago.

“It’s time to stop the killing and come to a DEAL! Enough blood has already been shed, and property lines are defined by war and guts. They should stop where they are,” he wrote in a social media post about 45 minutes after the Ukrainian president left the White House. “Let them both claim Victory, let History decide! No more shootings, no more Death, no more large and unsustainable sums of money spent. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. Thousands of people are massacred every week. ENOUGH MORE, COME HOME TO YOUR FAMILIES IN PEACE!”

He repeated that sentiment upon landing in Florida, where he plans to spend the weekend at his country club in Palm Beach.

“Follow the battle line wherever it is or it will become too complicated,” he told reporters. “Stop right now in the line of battle.”

It’s unclear whether this reflects another policy change on Trump’s part or, as is often the case with him, just a random idea that popped into his head and will disappear just as quickly.

In a de facto press conference at the beginning of his meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday afternoon, he again expressed surprise that the Ukrainian leader, whose citizens are massacred nightly by Russian drones and missiles, does not get along with Putin, the man who ordered those attacks.

“There is a lot of bad blood between the two presidents,” Trump said. “These two leaders don’t like each other.”

Putin’s attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine have been almost universally condemned and the International Criminal Court has charged him with war crimes.

Friday’s meeting came a day after Trump spoke with Putin by phone for two hours and said they had made “great progress” toward ending the nearly four-year war that began when Putin invaded its neighbor in February 2022. On the agenda was the possible transfer of U.S. Tomahawk missiles, which have a range that would allow Ukraine to hit targets up to 1,500 miles within Russia.

Trump, having called Russia a “paper tiger” in recent weeks due to Putin’s inability to quickly conquer and seize all of Ukraine, appeared to err on the idea on Friday. “What’s going to happen if the United States is in a conflict and we need the Tomahawks? That’s the problem. We need the Tomahawks,” he said.

Trump also discussed the idea of ​​meeting Putin again in the coming weeks in Budapest, even though the city is in Hungary, currently governed by arguably the only pro-Putin leader besides Trump in the NATO alliance, Viktor Orbán. The city was also where Russia promised in 1994 not to invade Ukraine if it gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

For his part, Zelenskyy used the same strategy in dealing with Trump that other US allies have successfully adopted: praising him profusely.

“Again, congratulations on your successful ceasefire in the Middle East,” Zelenskyy said, following a similar statement he posted online on Thursday. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Zelenskyy once again wore a jacket and tie, avoiding the rebuke he received from pro-Trump journalist Brian Glenn and Vice President JD Vance for wearing a military uniform instead of a suit during his February visit to the White House, his first since Trump’s return to the presidency. That meeting ended with Trump and Vance lashing out at Zelenskyy for not being grateful enough, and was viewed with horror in European capitals.

In the days after Putin’s invasion in 2022, Trump praised the Russian leader as a “genius” and “cunning” for sending troops to kill Ukrainians and seize their land. In the months that followed, even after his return to office nine months ago, he blamed Zelenskyy for the invasion of his country and former President Joe Biden for allowing it to happen.

Only in recent months has he also begun to blame Putin for his continued drone and missile attacks on civilians, particularly after talks with Trump.

The frequency of Russian attacks on Ukraine increased dramatically after Trump returned to power, according to a BBC analysis.

Despite Putin’s willingness to kill civilians, Trump still boasts of his “good relationship” with him. He cited that as the reason for inviting Putin to meet him in Alaska in August and rolling out a red carpet, literally, upon his arrival.

Putin, however, attacked Ukrainian cities again afterward, even though Trump had repeatedly warned that he hoped Putin would agree to a ceasefire at the meeting.