Speaking at the White House on August 26, President Donald Trump emphasized: "It takes two people to dance tango, and Zelensky is not entirely innocent." According to him, thousands of young people are dying every week and if we can prevent that with severe sanctions or tariffs, the US is ready to act.
The US leader affirmed that he did not want to push the world into a global war, but was ready to use economic pressure to force the parties down the scale. "We want an end. We have economic sanctions. I'm talking about the economy, because we're not going into a world war," Trump added.
At the press conference, President Trump also did not hesitate to criticize his predecessor Joe Biden for the Russia-Ukraine conflict. No one goes into a war thinking they are going to lose, Trump said. Ukraine thought they would win, but how could they defeat a 15 times bigger opponent than them. Mr. Biden shouldnt have let things happen like that.
Notably, President Trump seemed to reject the controversy over the legality of President Volodymyr Zelensky's leadership role, when he frankly said: "It doesn't matter what they say. It was all a play, a illusion.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscow's stance in an interview with NBC on August 24, calling Zelensky "the head of the regime in practice" and stressing that any peace deal must be signed by a legitimate leader.
