Trump believes Kiev is delaying ceasefire announcement

Donald Trump is becoming increasingly pessimistic about the success of his peace plan. The American president believes that Kiev is delaying the announcement of a ceasefire, the start of the peace process, and the reconstruction of Donbass.

Donald Trump, U.S. President:

"I thought we were very close to reaching an agreement with Russia. I thought we were very close to reaching an agreement with Ukraine. In fact, except for President Zelensky, everyone likes the idea of the deal itself. It's a deal that could prevent the death of thousands of people each month. Thousands and thousands of lives, mostly soldiers, but as you know, bombs keep falling there."

Due to Kyiv's position, Trump has not yet decided whether the U.S. will participate on December 13 in the multilateral meeting with Ukraine and Europeans. It is also unclear whether, if it does take place, which level of politicians will be represented there.

Meanwhile, Kiev and Brussels are torpedoing Trump's proposals one after another and are preparing for a long war. Zelensky has essentially rejected the demand to hold presidential elections: he claims they can only take place after the conflict ends. And Brussels is completing preparations to confiscate frozen Russian funds: on December 11, EU ambassadors signed a document extending the freeze indefinitely, and a final decision on transferring these funds to Kiev, bypassing Hungary and Belgium, is expected to be made on December 12.