President Donald Trump said on social media Saturday that a deal better than “a mere Ceasefire” is in the works with Vladimir Putin, hours after Trump’s high-stakes summit with the Russian leader in Alaska failed to produce an agreement to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump wrote overnight on his Truth Social platform that the meeting had gone “very well.” A later call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “various European Leaders” and NATO’s secretary general, former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, apparently did, too.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump wrote shortly before 5 a.m.
“President Zelenskyy will be coming to D.C., the Oval Office, on Monday afternoon,” he continued. “If it all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”
Trump told reporters after his meeting with Putin that their discussion had been fruitful.
“I think everybody wants to deal with us, we’ve become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time,” he said. “We look forward to that, we look forward to… We’re going to try and get this over with, we really made some great progress today.”
“A great and very successful day in Alaska!” Trump wrote Saturday in his post.
His joyous pre-dawn celebration indeed clashed with comments he made just a day prior. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the flight to Alaska, “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”
“Everybody said it can’t be today, but I’m just saying I want the killing to stop,” he added.
