Trump says Russia is behaving fine toward Ukraine as drone kills six

US President Donald Trump told reporters that Russia is “behaving fine” toward Ukraine and is “not doing that much,” according to media reports. He also did not rule out a three-way meeting with Putin and Xi Jinping, which he said would not be about Ukraine.

“Frankly, Russia is behaving fine toward Ukraine. It’s not doing that much,” Trump said. He made the remark on the very day a Russian drone strike on a park in the village of Nova Vodolaha in the Kharkiv region killed six people, including two children.

The strikes the president did not mention

The night before, Russia attacked Kyiv with more than ten ballistic missiles and hit almost 30 key energy facilities across the country. According to a Ukrainian outlet, Trump commented on none of it. Instead, he praised Putin for his “restraint” — both in Ukraine and in Iran.

Asked whether he was ready to meet Putin and Xi Jinping, the head of the White House said yes. The main topic of such a US–Russia–China meeting, he said, would be nuclear disarmament.

A meeting without Zelensky

Trump was answering questions about a three-way summit after a US newspaper reported that Putin wants to use such a meeting, to which Volodymyr Zelensky would not be invited, to secure a peace deal favorable to Moscow. Trump added that he is ready to discuss Ukraine with Xi Jinping, who in his view “has been very fair” and “didn’t interfere too much.”

In Trump’s view, Russia is also behaving “very decently” on the Iran issue. “As for Iran, the situation is also very good. Putin is leaving Iran alone,” he said.

Sanctions and Kyiv’s discontent

Trump defended the recent easing of US sanctions on Russia and added that the US is negotiating with the Kremlin over the release of an important hostage. On 9 October he said he had agreed with Putin on a temporary suspension of US sanctions on Russian oil exports. Last week he refused to impose new sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. In Kyiv, complaints that the US has stopped sharing intelligence have fed talk of American betrayal.

On Monday, Trump remarked that it was time for Zelensky to give up his seat at the negotiating table to someone else. Zelensky himself said in a Sunday interview with Bloomberg that Trump is trying to pressure Ukraine into surrendering to Russia.

Trump’s Republican Party is struggling ahead of the US elections. For several weeks now he has claimed that high diesel prices in the country are caused not by the war on Iran that he started, but by Ukrainian air strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz

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