WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has paused military aid to Ukraine following a verbal clash between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office Trump warned that the Ukrainian leader “won’t be around very long” if progress was not made on a peace deal. Without taking names, Trump hinted that the Ukrainian leader “won’t be around very long” without a ceasefire deal with Russia.
“It should not be that hard a deal to make. It could be made very fast,” Trump told reporters, referring to a ceasefire. “Now, maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long.”
During an event with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chief executive CC Wei at the White House on Monday, Trump criticized Zelensky for saying the war could go on for a long time and said Ukraine’s president should be “more appreciative” of billions of dollars of military aid in Kyiv’s fight against Russia.
When asked about what he needs to see from Zelenskyy to restart negotiations, Trump said, “Well, I just think he (Zelenskyy) should be more appreciative because this country has stuck with them through thick and thin. We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us, because, as you know, that’s right there. That’s the border. This country really was like the fence on the border. It was very important to Europe. And I’m not knocking Europe, I’m saying they’re just — they were a lot smarter than Joe Biden, because Joe Biden didn’t have a clue. He just gave money hand over a fist, and they should have been able to equalize with us.”
“In other words, if we gave a dollar, they should have given. Well, we gave USD 350 billion. They probably gave 100, but on top of it all, they get their money back, because they are doing it in the form of a loan, and it’s a secured loan. So, when I saw that, which I’ve known about for a little while, I said, ‘It’s time for us to be smart.’ At the same time, it’s great for them, because they get us in the country taking the rare earth, which is going to fuel this big engine, and especially the engine that we’ve, in a very short time, created. And we get something, and we’re in the — we’re there. We have a presence there,” he added.
Trump said that he wants those young people to stop being killed and said that 2700 were killed last week. He said, “With all of that being said, I want one thing to happen: I want all of those young people to stop being killed. They’re being killed by the thousands every single week. Last week, 2,700 were killed. Twenty-seven hundred young in this case, just about, all young boys from Ukraine and from Russia. And that’s not young people from the United States, but it’s on a human basis. I want to see it stop. The money is one thing, but the death. And they’re losing thousands of soldiers a week, and that’s not including the people that get killed every time a town goes down or a missile goes into a town,” he added.
Earlier in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his willingness to step down as president in exchange for peace and North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) membership for Ukraine. Kyiv School of Economics President Tymofiy Mylovanov shared a video of Zelenskyy responding to a question from BBC News in Ukrainian.
Zelenskyy stated that he is focused on Ukraine’s security today and not staying in power for decades. According to the post shared on X by Mylovanov, Zelenskyy was asked whether he was ready to step down for peace. In response, Zelenskyy stated, “I am ready to step down for peace If no peace, I am happy to step down in exchange for NATO for Ukraine I am focused on security for Ukraine here and today and not staying in power for decades.”
