US President Donald Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up swaths of territory to Russia during a tense meeting on Oct 17 that left Kyiv’s delegation disappointed, according to two people briefed on the discussion.
Mr Trump also declined to provide Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine’s use, and mused about giving security guarantees to both Kyiv and Moscow, comments that the Ukrainian delegation found confusing, added the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss a private conversation.
After his meeting with Mr Zelensky, Mr Trump publicly called for a ceasefire on the current frontlines, a position that the Ukrainian President then embraced in comments to reporters. A third person said Mr Trump came up with that proposal during the meeting after Mr Zelensky said he would not voluntarily cede any territory to Moscow.
“The meeting ended with (Trump’s) decision to make a ‘deal where we are, on the demarcation line’,” the third source said.
Mr Trump underscored that position in remarks to reporters on Oct 19.
“We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are, the battle lines,” he said on Air Force One. “The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say, ‘you take this, we take that’.”
Hellbound and Down 