WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump mentioned he would communicate to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he pushes to finish the struggle in Ukraine.
The U.S. chief disclosed the upcoming dialog to reporters whereas flying from Florida to Washington on Air Drive One on Sunday night.
“We’ll see if now we have one thing to announce perhaps by Tuesday. I will probably be chatting with President Putin on Tuesday,” Trump mentioned. “Lots of work’s been carried out over the weekend. We need to see if we are able to carry that struggle to an finish.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday morning confirmed the plans for the 2 leaders to talk on Tuesday, however refused to reveal what the dialog will probably be about, saying that “we by no means get forward of occasions” and “the content material of conversations between two presidents usually are not topic to any prior dialogue.”
Any such dialog may very well be a pivot level within the battle and a chance for Trump to proceed reorienting American international coverage. European allies are cautious of Trump’s affinity for Putin and his hardline stance towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who confronted sharp criticism when he visited the Oval Office a bit greater than two weeks in the past.
Though Russia failed in its preliminary purpose to topple Ukraine with its invasion three years in the past, it nonetheless controls massive swaths of the nation.
Trump mentioned land and energy vegetation are a part of the dialog round bringing the struggle to an in depth.
“We will probably be speaking about land. We will probably be speaking about energy vegetation,” he mentioned.
Trump described it as “dividing up sure belongings.”
Trump particular envoy Steve Witkoff lately visited Moscow to advance negotiations.
Throughout his dialog with reporters on Air Drive One, Trump mentioned he was pushing ahead together with his plans for tariffs on April 2 regardless of latest disruption within the inventory market and nervousness about the economic impact.
“April 2 is a liberating day for our nation,” he mentioned. “We’re getting again a few of the wealth that very, very silly presidents gave away as a result of they’d no clue what they have been doing.”
Trump has often modified course on some tariff plans, such as with Mexico, however he mentioned he had no intention of doing so relating to reciprocal tariffs.
“They cost us and we cost them,” he mentioned. “Then along with that, on autos, on metal, on aluminum, we’re going to have some extra tariffs.”
