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Trump says talks with Ukraine, Russia 'going pretty well,' media reports

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Trump says talks with Ukraine, Russia 'going pretty well,' media reports
Donald Trump looks on during a campaign stop to address Pennsylvanians who are concerned about the threat of Communist China to U.S. agriculture at the Smith Family Farm September 23, 2024 in Smithton, Pennsylvania (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump said that discussions involving Ukraine and Russia are making progress, though he provided few details. "We have meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia. And I think those discussions are actually going pretty well," Trump told reporters late on Feb. 2.

Earlier in the day, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, suggested that both nations would need to make concessions to negotiate an end to the war.

"President Volodymyr Zelensky has already indicated he will soften his position on land," Kellogg reportedly said, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "And [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going to have to soften his positions as well." He added that discussions would continue in the near future, calling negotiations "good for both sides."

Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out any deal that would involve ceding territory to Russia, which currently occupies around 20% of Ukraine's territory. Some of this land was taken during Russia’s 2014 invasion, while the rest was captured following its full-scale assault in 2022. However, as Ukraine faces mounting battlefield losses, pressure is growing on Zelensky to consider compromises.

The future of U.S. military aid to Ukraine remains uncertain. Kellogg noted that the previous administration provided $174 billion in assistance, a figure Trump has frequently criticized. Meanwhile, Russia has sustained heavy battlefield losses and continues to face economic strain due to military spending and Western sanctions.

Trump has promised to end the war swiftly but has not disclosed any specific plans. On Jan. 31, Kellogg claimed the former president had a "solid" strategy to end the war within months.

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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