"Extremely Good" - Trump Assesses Riyadh Talks

A high-level meeting between Russia and the United States in Saudi Arabia has been the subject of intense international media scrutiny. It's been nearly three years since such a meeting has taken place.

US President Donald Trump has hailed the talks as "extremely good", stating that he now has greater confidence in the possibility of a peace deal in Ukraine. Trump also expressed his support for the conduct of elections in Ukraine.

"Ukraine is in such a state of disarray that no elections have taken place. The military has been deployed, and Zelensky's popularity has dropped to as low as 4%. The country is in shambles. Most buildings have been destroyed. Some cities are completely uninhabitable. Ukraine looks like a place where mass demolition is underway. Would Ukrainians really say now, "We haven't had elections for a long time"? - This is not Russia's doing, but rather a consequence of a lack of leadership from me and many other countries."

Trump also stated that he supports the deployment of European military forces to Ukraine, but not American troops. He demanded that Zelensky be held accountable for the spending of the American funds allocated to Ukraine.

"Ukraine must pay its debts. They must investigate how the money was spent. I believe Zelensky himself said last week that he has no idea where half of the American funds went. If I recall correctly, we gave them around $350 billion - but let's say it was a bit less. That's still a significant amount of money."

Trump emphasized the need to balance the aid provided to Ukraine, given that Europe has allocated around $100 billion, while the United States has allocated over $300 billion. However, Ukraine will still have to "pay reparations". Earlier, Trump hinted to Zelensky that some form of reciprocation would be required in exchange for the funds. Subsequently, he stated that Zelensky had agreed to allocate around $500 billion in resources.

During a signing ceremony of new decrees, Trump told reporters that his meeting with Vladimir Putin may take place as early as the end of February.

Фото ТАСС