Ex-US President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to pursue immediate direct peace talks with Russia, arguing that the war must immediately cease. He made the call while speaking at a media briefing on board his private plane while worrying that the ongoing war was leading the world toward an even greater crisis.
Trump asserted that additional military aid is not going to solve the problem. Instead, he believes that Ukraine and Russia need to sit down and negotiate face-to-face, even if tensions have not eased. He described the situation as dangerous and called for swift action.
Trump asserts that America’s leaders are not aggressively enough trending toward calling for peace. He criticized current U.S. policy for solely targeting weapons and aid, not diplomacy.
Flashback:
Trump has made the same comments previously. In 2022, he intimated that the war would not have been launched if he were president again. He also stated that he could stop the war “within 24 hours” if given a chance. The comments were severely criticized but were comforted by his ardent supporters.
His latest comments come as the Russia-Ukraine conflict enters its third year. Cities continue to be bombarded, and both countries have experienced their heavy casualties. Military and economic aid has been provided by the global community, but peace does not yet appear on the horizon.
Trump also warned about building up tensions in the Middle East and said that world leaders should not ignore several hotspots erupting at once. He suggested that failure to take diplomacy seriously would lead to more chaos.
One of Trump’s critics claims that his words minimized the war, while another claims that his call for peace talks will put pressure on world leaders to look beyond the battlefield.
Finally, Trump’s call for direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia brings another voice to the increasing voices calling for peace. Whatever his words bring forth in terms of actual change or not, they evidence heightened public apprehension about the war’s long-term price.
