US President Donald Trump said Washington is willing to provide security assistance to Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war with Russia. He emphasized that security support is a crucial factor in resolving the conflict. However, Trump also expressed disappointment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has not readily accepted the US peace plan, increasing pressure on Kyiv, which previously rejected the proposal as too favorable to Moscow.

Trump expressed "deep frustration" with the slow pace of negotiations and no longer wants to be trapped in fruitless meetings. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump is "sick of meeting for the sake of meeting" and is now demanding concrete action. The US has not yet confirmed whether it will send representatives to the weekend meeting in Europe regarding the latest US offer, which is said to be a shortened version of the 28-point plan that demands major concessions from Ukraine. Trump emphasized that the US will only attend if the chances of reaching a deal are deemed high enough.

Meanwhile, Zelenskiy has begun discussing holding a referendum in Ukraine, including the possibility of asking the people to decide whether to hand over the Donbas region to Russia. The territorial issue has become a centerpiece of the debate, as the Kremlin insists Ukraine withdraw its troops from Donetsk and Luhansk, two eastern regions that the Russian military has failed to fully capture during nearly four years of war. Zelenskiy had previously submitted a draft 20-point peace plan to the White House, which he called a "fundamental document" for ending the war.

While Trump has likened the process to "a complex real estate deal times a thousand," the situation on the ground is far from straightforward. Ukraine faces a military personnel shortage, while Russian forces continue to make slow ground advances. This leaves Russian President Vladimir Putin with little incentive to end the invasion. While direct US military aid to Ukraine has been drastically reduced, Trump has been pushing NATO allies to purchase US weapons for delivery to Kyiv. The exact nature of the US security guarantee remains unclear and has been the subject of intense negotiations between the White House and Ukrainian officials in recent days. (az)

Source: Newsmaker.id