‘Not wasting my time’: Donald Trump says no meeting with Vladimir Putin until Ukraine deal in place
It was earlier announced that Donald Trump would meet Vladimir Putin in Budapest to advance the talks on Ukraine, but the meeting never materialised.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he does not plan to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin until he thinks a deal is in place to secure peace between Russia and Ukraine to end the war that will enter its fifth year in February.
It was earlier announced that Trump would meet Putin in Budapest to advance the talks on a peace deal in Ukraine, but the meeting never materialised.
"I'm going to have to know that we're going to make a deal. I'm not going to be wasting my time," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Asia.
"I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing," Trump said.
Trump and Putin last met on August 15 in Alaska, a meeting that both sides said was productive in reaching a peace deal to end Moscow's war with Ukraine.
The war doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon, as Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight into Saturday killed at least four people and wounded 20.
In the capital, Kyiv, two people were killed and 13 were wounded in a ballistic missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, the city police said.
Two people were killed and seven wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region, acting regional governor Vladyslav Haivanenko said. The governor added that apartment buildings and private homes were damaged in the strikes.
Ukraine pushes for more air defence systems
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged the United States to expand its sanctions on Russian oil from two companies to the whole sector, and appealed for long-range missiles to hit back at Russia.
Zelensky was in London for talks with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military help to shield his country from future Russian aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than three-year war.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov made clear in public comments on Tuesday that Russia is opposed to an immediate ceasefire.
The meeting, hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, aimed to step up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding momentum to recent measures, including a new round of sanctions from the United States and European countries on Russia's vital oil and gas export earnings.
