The statements are made during a press conference at the President's Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, about Tuesday's meeting between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia.
It was already reported earlier on Tuesday that a framework for continued Ukraine negotiations was presented during the meeting, according to sources to American Fox News – and that it will include demands that Ukraine hold new elections for a peace agreement to be concluded.
Trump says in Mar-a-Lago that "we have a situation where we haven't had an election in Ukraine, where we have a state of emergency" and claims, without basis, that President Zelenskyj "is down to four percent in confidence figures."
If Ukraine wants a place at the negotiating table, shouldn't the people say that it's been a long time since they had an election?
52 percent of Ukrainians trusted Zelenskyj in December, according to the latest survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, reports Financial Times.
Meeting with Putin
Trump also makes it clear that the proposal for a Ukrainian presidential election is his.
It's not a Russian thing, it's something that comes from me and from many other countries as well.
Furthermore, Trump says that he "probably" will meet Vladimir Putin before the end of February.
He also says he is "disappointed" over the Ukrainian complaints about being excluded from the talks on ending the war in Ukraine. When asked what he would say to Ukrainians who feel "betrayed", he responds:
I am very disappointed, I hear that they are upset about not having a place, but they have had a place for three years and a long time before that.
"Beautiful gesture"
I believe I have the strength to end this war, he says after saying that he is "much more confident" about an agreement with Russia after Tuesday's talks between the two countries' foreign ministers and other top diplomats.
At the same time, Trump says that the US would have no problem with European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine – a question that European leaders discussed during an emergency top meeting in Paris on Monday.
If they want to do it, that's fine, says Trump according to Sky News.
I know that France has mentioned it. Others have mentioned it, the UK has mentioned it, he continues and calls it a "beautiful gesture".
