US President Donald Trump Announces Cancellation of Summit with Russian Counterpart Vladimir Putin
US President Donald Trump has announced the cancellation of a planned summit in Hungary with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, stating that he "didn't feel the time was right" and indicating that "US sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies aim to push Moscow to end the war in Ukraine."
During a meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, Trump expressed his hope for an end to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been ongoing since 2022. The US President added: "Today is a big day in terms of what we're doing... Look, these are huge sanctions, very big sanctions against two major Russian oil companies. We hope it won't last long, we hope the war will be resolved," expressing hope that "the Russian and Ukrainian presidents (Volodymyr Zelensky) will show reason."
Trump continued: "We would like to see them take the line (of the front, referring to the cessation of the war on current borders and the start of negotiations) that was established a long time ago, and go home... Last week, nearly 8,000 soldiers were killed, many Russians, and many Ukrainians were also killed, and we think it's absurd." Trump explained that he had decided to cancel his planned meeting with Putin, stating: "We canceled the meeting with Putin, I didn't feel the time was right for it, I didn't feel we were going to get to the point where we needed to, so I canceled the meeting, but we will have it in the future."
Key Points:
- US President Donald Trump cancels planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin
- Trump cites lack of progress on ending the war in Ukraine as reason for cancellation
- US imposes sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies to pressure Moscow to end the war
- Trump expresses hope for a resolution to the conflict and an end to the bloodshed
- The US President indicates that a future meeting with Putin is possible, but only when progress has been made on key issues.
