Kremlin welcomes the possibility of a meeting between Trump and Putin

The Kremlin has welcomed US President-elect Donald Trump’s willingness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior Moscow official said on Friday.

Russia does not attach any conditions to the possibility of face-to-face talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a conference call.

Trump said Thursday that “Putin wants to meet” and that a meeting was planned. He noted that efforts to end the almost three years of war between Russia and Ukraine were behind the offers of talks. “We have to get this war behind us,” said Trump, referring to his possible meeting with Putin.

Trump, who has criticized US aid for Ukraine’s war effort, called Putin “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine and praised Russia’s military performance in historic conflicts. Putin has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Ukrainian officials are concerned about the possibility that the United States, their largest donor, could reduce or stop aid. Without Western support, his fight against the Russian invasion could be doomed to failure.

The outgoing Biden administration is providing as much military support to Ukraine as possible, including authorizing a new one $500 million package of weapons, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the best possible position future negotiations to end the war.

“We are aware that the (Biden) administration will try to leave Trump and his team as difficult a legacy as possible in bilateral relations,” Peskov said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would need assurances in any peace negotiations about its future protection from Russia, its much larger neighbor, which has invaded Ukraine twice since the turn of the century. Europe alone cannot offer this guarantee, he said late Thursday.

“European security guarantees are not enough for Ukraine, which is fighting an enemy like Russia. We need common security guarantees from the USA and Europe,” said Zelensky.

Ukraine is set to receive $2 billion in military aid packages after Thursday Meeting in Germany According to Zelenskyy, it includes senior officials from more than 50 countries that have supported Kiev’s war effort.

Ukraine has so far signed partnerships with 34 countries in the areas of air and missile defense, digital security, demining and naval cooperation, Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has received European Union funds from frozen Russian assets for the first time, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

The ERA (Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration) loans for Ukraine are an initiative of the G7 countries to collectively provide nearly $50 billion in non-repayable financial assistance to Ukraine.

As part of the ERA initiative, Ukraine received three billion euros and intends to spend it on “priority budget expenditures,” Shmyhal said.

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