Newly elected US President Donald Trump called today for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the "madness", which prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say that there can be no peace without guarantees, Reuters reports.
Trump made his comments just hours after meeting with Zelensky in Paris for their first face-to-face talks since Trump won last month's election in the United States of America (USA).
Trump has promised to end the conflict through negotiations, but so far he has not provided details.
"Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Kiev had lost about 400.000 troops.
"There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. I know Vladimir well. It's his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting," Trump added, referring to Russian President Putin.
At the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Saturday, Trump sat with Zelensky for about an hour, along with the French president, host Emmanuel Macron.
Trump and Zelenski shook hands and smiled, but it was not clear how the conversation went. Reports on the talks from the French and Ukrainian sides say only that the talks were good and productive.
Today, Zelenski reacted to Trump's message by saying that peace is not just a piece of paper, but that it needs guarantees.
"When we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first of all talk about effective guarantees for peace. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else," Zelensky said on the X social network.
"It (the war) cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures. A cease-fire without guarantees can flare up again at any time, as Putin has done before. To ensure that Ukrainians do not suffer any more losses, we must to guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to the occupation," said the President of Ukraine.
Reuters reports that Trump's figure of 400.000 Ukrainian soldiers lost in the war appears to mean both dead and wounded. Zelenski said that 43.000 soldiers died in the war and that there were 370.000 wounded soldiers.
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