Washington:
Following President Donald Trump’s remarks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, US National Security Advisor (NSA) Mike Waltz emphasised that Trump aims to bring an end to the war, and criticised Zelensky for not taking the opportunity to negotiate peace.
While addressing the media briefing on Thursday, Waltz said, “His (President Trump) goal is to bring this war to an end. There has been ongoing fighting on both sides. This is World War I style trench warfare. His frustration with President Zelensky is multi-fold. Some of the rhetoric and insults coming out of Kyiv for President Trump are unacceptable. President Trump is very frustrated with President Zelensky because he hasn’t come to the table and hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered. I think he will soon get to the point.”
Waltz also highlighted the growing concerns over the US’s financial burden in supporting the war and NATO’s defence efforts.
“We have also made it clear for years that it is unacceptable that the United States and its taxpayers continue to bear the burden, not only of the cost of war in Ukraine but also of the defensive of Europe. We fully support our NATO allies and the Article 5 commitment, but its time for our NATO allies to step up… We are going to enter into a NATO Summit with a third of our NATO allies still not meeting the 2 per cent minimum – a commitment they made a decade ago with a war at their doorstep. We have got our domestic priorities, and President Trump has made that clear. Europe needs to step up for their own defence as a partner. We can be friends and allies and have those tough conversations.”
He further added, “I had the honour of sitting at the Oval Office when President Trump spoke with President Putin and then immediately spoke with President Zelensky; both of whom said that only President Trump could bring both sides to a table and that only he could stop the horrific fighting. We just had our historic talks, mediated by our good friend and partner- Saudi Arabia, for which we thank the crown prince for hosting. We sat, for the first time in years, with the Russians and talked about the path forward with peace.”
Trump on Wednesday targeted Zelensky over the ongoing war in Ukraine and said that the United States has spent USD 200 billion more than Europe, while Europe’s financial contributions are “guaranteed” and the US gets no return.
Sharing a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion dollars, to go into a war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a war that he, without the US and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle.”
The post added, “The United States has spent $200 billion dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t sleepy Joe Biden demand equalization, in that this war is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful ocean as separation. On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”
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