Trump refuses to consider Russia a threat to NATO and Europe

^{Photo: Sky News}
US President Donald Trump has refused to consider Russia a threat to NATO and Europe.

When asked by Fox News journalists to comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement that "Russia could attack one of the NATO countries - Poland or Lithuania - this year, he responded as follows: "I don't agree with that."

Trump stressed that he "absolutely" does not believe that.

"No, I think Putin wants to stop the war. If he wanted to continue, it would be a big problem for us. Both he and Zelensky want to end the conflict," Trump justified his answer by saying.

According to the US leader, "Russia managed to take a lot of territory in Ukraine under Obama, and now Russia is trying to take it all."

"It's very bad. It's really very bad. Many people have already died, many cities, beautiful domes that are thousands of years old have been destroyed," Trump said on the eve of a planned meeting to end the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky: "Putin will wage war against NATO"

Earlier, Zelensky said that Russia could be preparing to attack Poland or Lithuania this year.

"We believe that Putin will wage war against NATO. It could be this summer - early or late summer. I don't know when he will prepare for it. But it will happen," the Ukrainian president said.

He said in a statement, citing Ukrainian intelligence, that Russia is preparing for new military exercises in Belarus involving 150,000 troops. Zelensky recalled that Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine began with "merely symbolic exercises" that have been going on since 2021.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, said that Russia poses a global threat.

Negotiations on a new security architecture should take into account that Russia is a global threat, not just to Ukraine, he stressed. The politician noted that the Kremlin is taking an “aggressive stance” towards the European Union and the Baltic states, in particular Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are members of NATO.

US-Russia talks on ending the war in Ukraine to be held in Saudi Arabia

US and Russian representatives will hold talks on ending the war in Ukraine in the Saudi capital on February 18. The US delegation will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House National Security Advisor Mike Walz and Trump’s special representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

According to the Kremlin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov are flying to Riyadh to hold talks with the US delegation.

"The focus of the meeting will be primarily on "restoring the entire complex of Russian-U.S. relations," as well as "preparing for possible negotiations to normalize the situation in Ukraine" and organizing a meeting between Putin and Trump," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

NBC: US ​​to hold separate, then joint talks with Russia and Ukraine

NBC reported that the US delegation will hold separate talks with Russia and Ukraine, first, and then jointly.

That is why Ukraine was not invited to the talks between US and Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia, two American officials told the channel. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”