US President Donald Trump said on October 20 that attempts to reach an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war are ongoing, and warned that if an agreement is not reached the consequences will be serious.
“We are still in a process of making a deal [to stop the war]. If we do, it will be fantastic. If not, a lot of people will pay a very heavy price,” Trump said at a White House meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“I think we’ll get there, but it’s turned out to be nasty because you have two leaders who truly hate each other,” he told reporters.
Trump last week stepped up his efforts to broker a cease-fire, holding a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
His talks with Zelenskyy were to discuss the possibility of Ukraine obtaining long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles in exchange for Ukrainian drone technology, but no deal emerged from the meeting.
Trump on October 20 said providing Tomahawks to Ukraine was “more complicated” than it seemed, while Zelenskyy said in his evening video message that he had turned his focus to obtaining more Patriot air defense systems from the Americans.
“This is not an easy task, but it is one of the security guarantees for Ukraine and will work in the long term,” he said.
Zelenskyy and senior European Union officials earlier expressed doubts about Putin’s willingness to end the war even with the prospect of a summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest looms.
Zelenskyy said that he’s “ready” to sit down for peace talks in the Hungarian capital even though the venue selection has been criticized by the European Union given there’s an International Criminal Court arrest warrant outstanding against Putin.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while Trump’s peace efforts are welcome, “we don’t see Russia really wanting peace.” She also described holding the meeting in a European Union member state as “not nice.”
Hungary appeared to be moving ahead with plans for the summit. Its foreign minister told a briefing in Budapest that he would travel to the US capital on October 21 but gave no details of the trip. Diplomatic sources told RFE/RL that NATO chief Mark Rutte was likely headed to Washington on October 22.
Zelenskyy said on social media that there will be “many meeting and negotiations in Europe this week” amid media reports that he will fly to London on October 24 where a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, comprising over 20 Western allies of Ukraine, is to gather.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he will urge allies to step up economic efforts to “cripple Putin’s war machine.”
In a sign from Washington of its efforts, the State Department confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on October 20.
The Russian Foreign Ministry characterized the discussion as “constructive,” while the State Department said in a statement that Rubio “emphasized the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war, in line with President Trump’s vision.”
That vision reportedly includes the potential surrender territory as a condition for ending the war.
The Washington Post reported on October 18 that Putin demanded full control of the Donetsk region, a strategically vital area of eastern Ukraine that is partially occupied by Moscow during an October 16 phone call with Trump.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported on October 19 that Trump told Zelenskyy during their White House meeting to accept Russia’s terms for ending the war, including ceding the Donetsk region.
However, in remarks to reporters on October 19, Trump denied that he had discussed Ukraine ceding Donetsk to Russia.
According to the Financial Times report, Trump warned Zelenskyy that Putin had threatened to “destroy” Ukraine if it didn’t agree to his terms.
Asked in a Fox News interview whether Putin was likely to accept a peace deal without taking vast amounts of Ukrainian territory, Trump said: “Well, he’s gonna take something.”
