Calling on the US to provide more weapons, Mr. Trump said Mr. Zelensky started the conflict.

President Zelensky, President Trump and US Vice President Vance at a meeting at the White House on February 28. Photo: EPA

"Zelensky always wants more missiles. When you start a conflict, you have to measure your own strength. You can't go into a conflict with someone 20 times bigger and expect other people to give you missiles," Trump said.

The US president hinted that his predecessor had not properly handled relations between the two European neighbors.

"This is not my conflict, I just came back for a short time. Mr. Biden gave Ukraine billions of dollars, which should not have happened. If Mr. Putin is the first person responsible for the conflict, then Mr. Biden is second, Mr. Zelensky is third," Mr. Trump commented.

Mr Trump's criticism came after Mr Zelensky gave an interview to CBS, assessing that the US government had a "pro-Russian" stance.

Responding to CBS, the Ukrainian President also accused US Vice President JD Vance of "justifying Russia's actions." Previously, Mr. Vance had said that President Putin's statements were credible, thereby allowing the Ukrainian leader to spread false information. In February, Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Vance also had a fierce war of words during a meeting at the White House.

On the same day, according to TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the US understands the roots of the conflict in Ukraine, after US President Trump said that negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict were still progressing well, but the parties involved needed to "act instead of talk".

On the US side, in an interview with Fox News on April 14, President Donald Trump's US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Mr. Steve Witkoff, said that the US has made progress in negotiations with Russia on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

"Putin's demand is for lasting peace in Ukraine. So, in addition to the ceasefire, we have an answer to that. I think we're on the verge of something very, very important for the whole world ," Witkoff said.

He admitted that it took some time for the parties to make such progress towards resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/keu-goi-my-ho-tro-them-vu-khi-ong-trump-noi-ong-zelensky-khoi-mao-xung-dot-post319098.html