Washington, D.C., US – US President Donald Trump called on Friday for his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to ‘get together’ to end the Ukraine conflict.

“I think that President Putin and President Zelensky are going to have to get together. Because you know what? We want to stop killing millions of people,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Trump has been pushing for a deal to end the war soon and has held separate calls with both leaders. His top officials recently met their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia in talks that did not include Ukraine.

Trump’s new call follows comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier on Friday, who said a potential meeting between Trump and Putin would ‘largely depend on whether we can make progress on ending the war in Ukraine’.

In an interview published on social media, Rubio said he told Russian officials in Saudi Arabia earlier that there would be no meeting until ‘we know what the meeting is going to be about’.

According to the official, Trump wants to know if Russia is serious about ending the war in Ukraine, which was sparked by Moscow’s full-scale invasion three years ago.

“The only way is to test them, to basically engage them and say, ‘Okay, are you serious about ending the war? And if so, what are your demands? Are your public demands and your private demands different?’’ Rubio said.

Rubio: Trump ‘very upset’ with Zelensky

In the interview, the US Secretary of State also spoke about a growing rift between Trump and Zelensky.

“President Trump is very upset with President Zelensky,” Rubio said. “We care about Ukraine because it has implications for our allies and ultimately for the world. There should be some level of gratitude here.”

Rubio also said he discussed a deal to open Ukraine’s natural wealth to US investment in a meeting with Zelensky and US Vice President J D Vance in Munich last Friday.

“We explained to them, ‘Look, we want to be in a joint venture with you, not because we’re trying to steal from your country, but because we think that’s actually a security guarantee because we’re your partner in an important economic endeavour’,’’ Rubio said.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington, Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Waltz said Zelensky would be giving the US access to Ukrainian mineral resources soon.

“Look, here’s the bottom line, President Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term, and that is good for Ukraine,” Waltz said.

The US has also drafted a short US resolution on Ukraine which mourns the ‘tragic loss of life’ throughout the conflict, according to AFP and Reuters news agencies.

The 65-word draft also ‘implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia’. The resolution does not blame Russia for the war and does not mention Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia labelled the US-produced text a ‘good move’ but added it does not touch on the ‘roots’ of the conflict.

A parallel Ukrainian-European UN text singles out Russia for the ongoing invasion and said it backs Kyiv’s ‘territorial integrity’.

The 193-member UN General Assembly will gather on Monday to vote on the European-backed UN resolution.

Macron’s warning

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron plans to use his upcoming trip to the White House to try to persuade Trump to align himself with European allies.

During an online question-and-answer session on Thursday night, Macron said he planned to tell Trump on Monday that showing any weakness to Putin would make it harder to deal with China and Iran.

“I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of, and it’s not in your interests,” the French president said.

Following the online session, Macron wrote on X that he had a phone conversation with Zelensky, and they had reviewed ‘all the contacts I have had with European partners and allies willing to work towards a lasting and solid peace for Ukraine and to strengthen Europe’s security’.

DW