President Donald Trump said on Oct. 19 that Ukraine should give up territory in the Donbas region already under Russian control in order to end the war.
“We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are, the battle lines,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“They should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home. Stop killing people and be done.”
When asked what should happen to the eastern Donbas region, Trump said: “Let it be cut the way it is. It’s cut up right now. I think 78 percent of the land is already taken by Russia.
“You leave it the way it is, right now. They can negotiate something later on down the line.”
The president, however, said that he never discussed ceding the whole Donbas territory to Moscow during his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On Oct. 17, Trump hosted Zelenskyy at the White House, during which the president expressed hope that he would be able to resolve the Russia–Ukraine war without sending Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.
The visit followed what Trump called his “very productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 16.
“I think he wants to end the war,” Trump said of Putin as he met with Zelenskyy in the Cabinet room at the White House. “I spoke to him yesterday for two-and-a-half hours.”
Hellbound and Down 