Trump believes that Zelensky is ready to “give up Crimea”

U.S. President Donald Trump gave an affirmative answer when asked if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ready to “give up Crimea.”

Trump made this statement during a broadcast on Fox News.

The American president also said that during their meeting in Rome, Zelensky spoke about Crimea “very briefly.”

“Crimea was given away by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, 11 or 12 years ago. That was a long time ago. I don’t know how you can raise the issue of Crimea when it happened so long ago. No one brought it up for 12 years, and they’re not bringing it up now. I told them: you’d better go to Obama. Ask him why they gave it away,” Trump added.

He said that his meeting with Zelensky went “well” and that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days.” According to Trump, Zelensky “said he needs more weapons. But he’s been saying that for three years. He needs more weapons, and we’ll see what happens.”

Trump remarked that Zelensky “has become calmer” (compared to their previous heated exchange in the Oval Office — Editor’s note).

“I think he understands the situation. And I think he wants to make a deal. I don’t know if he really wants to make a deal. But I think he does,” the U.S. president added.

According to Trump, Zelensky is “in a very tough situation. He’s fighting a much larger army. Much larger. And those [Russian] troops haven’t been particularly outstanding. It turned out to be much harder than they thought. But what helped [the Ukrainians] was the $350 billion in aid we provided.”

Trump also commented on Russia. When asked if he trusts Putin, Trump said: “I’ll let you know in two weeks. Two weeks or less. Well, maybe a little more.”

The U.S. president added that he plans to speak with Putin.

“I want him to stop shooting, sit down at the table, and make a deal. I think we have the outlines of a deal,” Trump said.

He also reiterated that he was “surprised and disappointed” by recent Russian missile strikes on Ukraine.

For context, Trump previously called the idea of returning all lost territories to Ukraine “ridiculous.”