Former US President Donald Trump said the Wagner Group’s attempted insurgency had “somewhat” weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that it was time for the United States to try to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
“I want the death to stop because of this ridiculous war,” Trump told Reuters in a phone call on Thursday.
He went on to say that Putin was hurt by the attempted rebellion of the Wagner Military Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, at the weekend.
“You could say he (Putin) is still around, he’s still strong, but I see he’s certainly become somewhat weaker, at least in a lot of people’s minds,” he said.
He added that if Putin was no longer in power, “you don’t know who the replacement will be. Someone better may come, but someone who is much worse.”
Trump did not rule out the possibility that Kiev would be forced to cede some of its territory to Russia in exchange for stopping the war, which began 16 months ago when Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine.
He said everything would be “discussable” if he won the presidential election, but added that Ukrainians had fought a fierce battle to defend their land.
“I think they will be entitled to keep a lot of what they have achieved and I think Russia will agree to that. We need the right mediator or negotiator (but) we don’t have it at the moment.”
“I think the biggest thing for the United States to do right now is make peace, bring Russia and Ukraine together and make peace. It can be done,” Trump said.
“The time has come for that…for the two sides to sit down together and impose peace,” he added.
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2023-06-30 02:01:17
