Trump says Zelenskyy ‘hasn’t read’ a US-authored proposal to end Russia-Ukraine war

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV Ukraine AP President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasn t read a U S-authored peace proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war Related Articles Trump hosts the Kennedy Center Honors recognizing Stallone Kiss Gaynor and others MassDems call on Republican governor candidates to denounce RFK Jr vax vote National Catholic Adviser to Trump campaign chimes in on Dedham church ICE sign Battenfeld Could Trump and GOP be careening toward midterm catastrophe Schooling Department workers targeted in layoffs are returning to tackle civil rights backlog Trump was critical of Zelenskyy after U S and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U S administration s proposal But in an exchange with reporters on Sunday night Trump suggested that the Ukrainian leader is holding up the talks from moving forward I m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn t yet read the proposal that was as of a sparse hours ago His people love it But he hasn t Russia s fine with it Trump recounted reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors Russia is I believe fine with it but I m not sure that Zelenskyy s fine with it His people love it but he hasn t read it Russian President Vladimir Putin also hasn t publicly expressed approval for the White House plan In fact Putin last week had explained that aspects of Trump s proposal were unworkable even though the original draft heavily favored Moscow Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since riding into a second White House term insisting that the war was a waste of U S taxpayer money Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to bring an end to a now nearly four-year conflict he says has cost far too a multitude of lives Zelenskyy noted Saturday he had a substantive phone call with the American officers engaged in the talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida He noted he had been given an update over the phone by U S and Ukrainian officers at the talks Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace Zelenskyy wrote on social media Trump s criticism of Zelenskyy came as Russia on Sunday welcomed the Trump administration s new national precaution strategy in comments by the Kremlin spokesman published by Russia s Tass news agency Dmitry Peskov mentioned the updated strategic document which spells out the administration s core foreign initiative interests was largely in line with Moscow s vision FILE- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a Kyrgyzstan-Russia talk at the Administrative complex Yntymak-Manas Ordo in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan Nov Alexander Kazakov Sputnik Kremlin Pool Photo via AP File There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations he explained adding that Russia hopes this would lead to further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement The document issued Friday by the White House stated the U S wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U S interest to reestablish strategic stability with Russia Speaking on Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum Trump s outgoing Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg revealed efforts to end the war were in the last meters He commented a deal depended on the two outstanding issues of terrain primarily the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Russia controls greater part of Donbas its name for the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions which along with two southern regions it illegally annexed three years ago The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow s invasion of Ukraine and is not in function It demands reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents Kellogg who is due to leave his post in January was not present at the talks in Florida Separately officers reported the leaders of the United Kingdom France and Germany would participate in a meeting with Zelenskyy in London on Monday As the three days of talks wrapped up Russian missile drone and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least four people in Ukraine A man was killed in a drone attack on Ukraine s northern Chernihiv region Saturday night local agents revealed while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk caused power and water outages Kremenchuk is home to one of Ukraine s biggest oil refineries and is an industrial hub Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter in what Ukrainian authorities call weaponizing the cold Three people were killed and others wounded Sunday in shelling by Russian troops in Ukraine s Kharkiv region according to the regional prosecutor s office AP writers Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed reporting