Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor said Saturday on Newsmax that President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the war in Ukraine has shifted from pursuing a cease-fire to aiming for a direct peace agreement with Russia.
“President Trump has been very clear all [along] since [his] campaign that he wanted to stop the killing. He wants to bring this war to an end,” Taylor told Newsmax’s “America Right Now.”
“Up until yesterday, it meant very clearly a cease-fire and then sit down and negotiate, address the longer-term issues that are going to have to be addressed sooner or later on ending the conflict. Getting to a cease-fire was very important,” he added.
He acknowledged the challenges ahead, noting there were “clearly some difficult conversations” during the roughly 2½-hour summit between the leaders in Alaska on Friday.
Taylor called patience and persistence essential, pointing out that “these things are going to take time,” and citing the years of no direct principal-to-principal communication between the Biden administration and President Putin.
Looking ahead to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s upcoming visit to Washington, Taylor described the meeting as significant.
“President Trump recognizes the importance of both sides agreeing — you don’t get an agreement on one side,” he said.
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