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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Washington:

US President-elect Donald Trump’s top security advisor called on Sunday for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, and for both parties to come to the negotiating table.

“We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it,” said Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for the influential role of US national security advisor (NSA).

In recent days, Washington has authorised Kyiv to use US-supplied missiles to strike targets in Russian territory and agreed to supply it with landmines, prompting Moscow to respond with the use of an experimental medium-range ballistic missile.

Waltz, a noted foreign policy hawk and former US special forces officer, has been critical of Russia but has, like Trump, opposed increasing aid to Ukraine.

“President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict,” he told US media outlet Fox News on Sunday.

“We need to be discussing who’s at that table, whether it’s an agreement, an armistice, how to get both sides to the table and then what’s the framework of a deal?”

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with the United States and others coming to Kyiv’s aid in its fight to hold its territory in the east of the country.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has in the past ruled out ceding any territory to Russia, and told Fox News on Tuesday that Ukraine would lose the war if Washington pulls funding.

President Joe Biden’s administration has promised a smooth transition to Trump, who has pledged major shake-ups on both foreign and domestic policy.

On Sunday, Waltz said he had met Biden’s NSA Jake Sullivan and warned adversaries abroad against thinking they could gain an advantage in the months before Trump takes office in January.

“For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity that they can play one administration off the other. They’re wrong… we are hand in glove.”

Waltz also lauded “the strength and the grit” of Israel in its offensive against Hamas, which has killed at least 44,211 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to local authorities.

The war was triggered by the assault on Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, a cross-border raid that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

“Now is a moment to craft some type of arrangement that doesn’t just put a pause for future October 7th’s (but) truly brings stability to the Middle East,” said Waltz.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

In the most significant appointment yet for India from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump on Monday announced Mike Waltz, a Congressman from Florida who is the co-chair of the India Caucus, as his new National Security Adviser.

Waltz, 50, is a retired Army colonel who served as a Green Beret, an elite special forces unit of the US Army.

He has been a member of the US House of Representatives since 2019. He has been a forceful critic of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy and serves on the House Armed Services Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Intelligence Committee this term.

He has called for Europe to do more to support Ukraine and for the US to be more stringent with its support, aligning with a key foreign policy goal of the President-elect. He has also been a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Waltz has praised Trump for pushing Nato allies to spend more on defence, but unlike the President-elect has not suggested the US pull out of the alliance.

“Look we can be allies and friends and have tough conversations,” Waltz said last month

Waltz is also on the Republican’s China taskforce and has argued the US military is not as prepared as it needs to be if there is conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

Waltz had been open about his willingness to serve in the administration and was considered a candidate to lead the Pentagon. The role of National Security Adviser does not require Senate confirmation.

Waltz is also a co-chair of the India Caucus in the House, which is the largest country-specific group in the US Congress.

Trump has been moving swiftly to announce key personnel of his incoming administration, including Susan Wiles, his White House Chief of Staff who will be the first woman to hold the position.

Trump’s other appointments include Stephen Miller, as a senior adviser, who is a known critic of the H-1b visa programme which he tried to kill in Trump’s first administration.

The President-elect has been quickly assembling a roster of senior staff since winning last week’s election. He has already announced Tom Homan as his “border czar,” Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the United Nations, and Lee Zeldin as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

–IANS

yrj/khz

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)