Donald Trump took a softer tone on Ukraine truce talks on Thursday as he hosted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer \u2014 but refused to give any firm commitments on the US security guarantees Europe desperately wants.<\/p>\n
In an upbeat meeting, the US president handed Starmer a win on a possible trade deal, while the British leader pandered to Trump\u2019s love of the royal family with a invitation for a state visit from King Charles III.<\/p>\n
Trump, who has alarmed European capitals with his sudden pivot towards Russia, said there had been \u201ca lot of progress\u201d towards a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine and that negotiations were at a crucial stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll either be fairly soon or it won\u2019t be at all,\u201d Trump told a press conference with Starmer.<\/p>\n
The mercurial US president played down an earlier rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which had compounded fears that Trump would cut out Ukraine from negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of respect for him,\u201d Trump said of Zelensky.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the Oval Office he also walked back a jibe that the Ukrainian was a dictator, saying: \u201cDid I say that? I can\u2019t believe I said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Rewards the aggressor\u2019
\nBut on the US security \u201cbackstop\u201d that Britain and France want in exchange for deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine in the event of a deal with Russia to end the war, Trump remained non-committal.<\/p>\n
The US president said he was \u201copen to many things\u201d in terms of security guarantees but that he wanted to get a Russia-Ukraine deal in place first.<\/p>\n
Trump added that he thought Putin would \u201ckeep his word\u201d \u2013 rejecting Starmer\u2019s warnings that a ceasefire without a US backstop would let Russia invade Ukraine again.<\/p>\n
It made Starmer the second leader in the space of a week to leave Washington empty-handed on Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron also tried to persuade Trump on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to win the peace,\u201d Starmer said at the joint news conference. \u201cIt can\u2019t be peace that rewards the aggressor.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the British premier tried to show that he was willing to step up in Ukraine, as Trump repeatedly urges European nations to contribute more to their continent\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m clear that the UK is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to support a deal,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n
In an interview later with right-wing outlet Fox News, Starmer praised Trump for spearheading moves toward a truce but said: \u201cWe need to defend it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deal must be a lasting deal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
British officials had earlier called for US support including aerial and satellite intelligence, and air power if necessary.<\/p>\n
\u2018Truly historic\u2019
\nStarmer will otherwise be heading home happy from a meeting with Trump, who praised him as a \u201ctough negotiator\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump held out the prospect of a \u201cgreat\u201d post-Brexit trade deal that could help Britain avoid the tariffs he has threatened against other countries at the start of his second term.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried. He was working hard, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d Trump said with a chuckle when asked if the British premier had persuaded him not to impose the levies.<\/p>\n
In a carefully choreographed moment in the Oval Office, Starmer also handed Trump a letter from the king inviting him for an unprecedented second state visit by a US president.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has never happened before,\u201d said Starmer. \u201cThis is truly historic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US president said he was \u201chonored\u201d and would attend with First Lady Melania Trump.<\/p>\n
But on Ukraine, the world will now be carefully watching Trump\u2019s meeting with Zelensky at the White House on Friday.<\/p>\n
The two leaders will sign a huge deal giving Washington exclusive access to Ukraine\u2019s rare minerals, which Trump has demanded as payback for US military aid to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be dig, dig, digging,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n
Zelensky had hoped the deal would contain US security guarantees but it appears to omit them.<\/p>\n
Talks between US and Russian officials \u2014 launched after a shock phone call between Trump and Putin just over two weeks ago \u2014 are continuing with Ukraine frozen out.<\/p>\n
Putin said Thursday the initial talks \u201cgive some hope\u201d of resolving \u201cproblems\u201d like the Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n
But the Kremlin said giving back Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed during its invasion \u2014 which Trump said was possible as part of a future peace deal \u2014 was \u201cnonnegotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Donald Trump took a softer tone on Ukraine truce talks on Thursday as he hosted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer \u2014 but refused to give any firm commitments on the US security guarantees Europe desperately wants. In an upbeat meeting, the US president handed Starmer a win on a possible trade deal, while the British […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6096,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions\/6096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}