US President Donald Trump made a critical statement about the Russia-Ukraine War via his account on the social media platform Truth Social.

‘INTERESTING TIMES AHEAD’

Trump said, “Winning a war without attacking an invading country is difficult, even impossible. It’s like a great sports team with formidable defenses but no offense allowed. They have no chance of winning. The situation with Russia and Ukraine is similar. Incompetent Joe Biden didn’t let Ukraine attack. He only let it defend itself. So how did that play out? If this war had happened while I was president, they would have had zero chance. We have interesting times ahead!”

‘PUTIN IS READY TO MEET WITH ZELENSKY’

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Lavrov stated,"Mr. Putin is ready to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy and others at the highest level, with the understanding that all necessary issues will be addressed in the best possible way, and that experts and ministers will prepare relevant recommendations. I also hope that when it comes to signing future agreements, there will be an understanding that the issue of the legitimacy of the person who will sign these agreements on the Ukrainian side will be resolved."

‘PRINCIPLES APPLY IN 2022’

Pointing out that statements from the European Union have been hindering peace talks, Lavrov said that they support and continue to support the principles and security guarantees agreed upon at the initiative of the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul in 2022. Lavrov said,"Because those principles are truly based on the principle of indivisibility, security, and collective security."

However, in his statement on Thursday, Zelenskyy indicated that a possible meeting with Putin could take place in Türkiye, Switzerland or Austria.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would hold intensive meetings to understand what kind of security guarantees its allies are willing to provide.

‘IT WILL BE CLEAR IN 10 DAYS’

Zelenskiy, stating that the details are being worked out at the meetings, said that these could become clear within 10 days.

Zelenskyy, noting that the talks could also be held in a trilateral format with Trump, said,"We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on this understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic."

‘A FRAMEWORK SIMILAR TO ARTICLE 5 SHOULD BE CREATED’

Zelenskyy noted that Trump had proposed a "trilateral meeting through a bilateral meeting" approach, adding,"But later we all agreed that we would continue to work on security guarantees anyway, that we would create a framework similar to (NATO) Article 5. And what we have today is political support for that."

WHAT HAPPENED?

Trump met with Putin in Alaska on August 15 and announced that no final agreement had been reached.

Trump met with Zelenskiy and European leaders at the White House on August 18, and the meeting was attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

During the meeting, security guarantees similar to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which stipulates collective security, were brought to the agenda for Ukraine with the participation of the United States.

Following the meeting, Trump announced that his meeting with European leaders had gone very well and that he had begun preparations for a trilateral summit between Putin and Zelenskyy, which he would also attend.