Quoting the Battlefield massacre, Trump said he was attending a high stakes meeting between Russia and Crane, detouring from his Gulf trip.
President Donald Trump on Monday increased the chances of flying to Turkey later this week to participate in planned peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
“I think we may get good results from Thursday’s meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine,” he said, adding that he expects both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodimia Zelensky to be present.
“I was thinking about flying,” Trump said. “I don’t know where I’m on Thursday. There are a lot of meetings, but I was actually thinking about flying there. If I think there’s a chance that things can happen, I think I have to do that.”
Both Putin and Zelensky have expressed support for talks in Turkey, and while Ukrainian leaders have said he is ready to attend, the Kremlin has not confirmed whether Putin will.
Trump said the size of the battlefield casualties has strengthened his push to end the conflict.
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“If you look at satellite photos of the battlefield with arms, legs and heads all over the place… that doesn’t make sense,” Trump said. “So we’re working very hard to see if we can finish that bloodbass.”
He added that there is a shortage of current estimates of around 5,000 soldiers killed or injured weekly on both sides of the war, and that the massacre is on the poor scale.
“It’s pointless to continue killing even in a day,” Zelensky said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia is committed to a “serious search” of a peaceful settlement, but otherwise refused to provide details.
Russian troops reportedly continued their drone strikes on Ukrainian territory overnight on Monday.
In addition to his potential participation in the Turkish summit, Trump said Monday that he is considering lifting sanctions in Syria to help the war-torn country “getting a fresh start” after Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
In a recent call between British Foreign Secretary David Lamy and German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz, Rubio emphasized that “the number one priority remains to put an end to the battle,” discussing common efforts to secure a ceasefire between European leaders and Ukraine.
