U.S. President Donald Trump said that Russia holds "the cards" in any peace talks with Ukraine as they occupy a significant part of Ukrainian territory, the BBC reported on Feb. 20.
"I think the Russians want to see the war end, I really do. I think they have the cards a little bit, because they've taken a lot of territory. They have the cards," Trump told journalists on Air Force One.
A U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio met top Russian officials for talks in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 18, marking the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022. Ukraine was not invited to participate.
No concrete decisions were announced following the U.S.-Russia talks, though both Moscow and Washington praised the meeting as constructive. Ukraine's exclusion sparked alarm in Kyiv and Europe.
The U.S. and Russia signaled that a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could occur before the end of February.
Speaking after the Riyadh talks, Trump voiced his belief that Russia wishes to end the war and laid the blame for the ongoing hostilities on Ukraine. He subsequently attacked President Volodymyr Zelensky as a "dictator without elections" while pressing the besieged country to hold a vote.
Kremlin propaganda has pushed the narrative that Zelensky is an illegitimate leader, relying on the premise that his first presidential term was originally meant to end on May 20, 2024. Trump's claim ignores the fact that Ukraine's constitution prohibits elections during martial law, which has been in effect since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Kateryna Denisova
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