In his address to both houses of Congress, US President Donald Trump said that he had received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressing his readiness for peace talks. According to him, there have also been signals from Russia about readiness for peace.
He quoted excerpts from the letter, which said that Zelensky and his team were “ready to sit down at the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring about a lasting peace, and no one wants peace more than the Ukrainians.”
“My team and I are ready to work to achieve a lasting peace under the strong leadership of President Trump,” Trump said, quoting another excerpt from the letter.
According to him, Zelensky also expressed his readiness to sign a mineral rights agreement “at any time.”
“At the same time, we have been in serious talks with Russia and we have received strong signals that they are ready for peace,” Trump added.
Volodymyr Zelensky, commenting on his dispute with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, expressed his readiness to sit down at the negotiating table. He also said earlier that he was ready to sign an agreement on Ukraine’s mineral resources.
“I am working tirelessly to end the brutal conflict in Ukraine,” Trump said. “Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this terrible and brutal conflict with no end in sight. The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense.”
“Do you want this to go on for another five years?” Trump asked, once again noting that the United States has spent more money supporting Ukraine than Europe.
“Unfortunately, Europe has spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than it has on defending Ukraine. Think about that.”
Some Democrats walked out of the room when Trump spoke about Ukraine. The US president did not mention cutting off military aid to Kiev in his speech.
Democrat Al Green was escorted from the room at the beginning of Trump’s speech. Photo: Reuters
It was Trump’s first address to Congress since returning to the White House. It is a traditional event in which a president reviews his first few weeks in office. Donald Trump has spent 44 days, or just over six weeks, in office.
In 2017, Trump gave a speech to Congress that lasted exactly an hour; this time, he spoke for 1 hour and 40 minutes, the longest speech in history.
“America is back,” he said at the beginning of his speech.
He said that his administration had achieved in a matter of weeks what no other administration had achieved in years.
“The American dream cannot be stopped, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never seen and probably never will,” Trump said.
Democrats began to protest and boo Trump, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to call for order and threaten to throw anyone who tried to disrupt the speech out of the chamber.
When Democratic Congressman Al Greene refused to take his seat, Johnson demanded that “this gentleman be taken out of the chamber.” Trump then continued his speech.
His speech was punctuated by a standing ovation from Republican supporters, who gave the party leader a standing ovation, while Democrats did not stand up.
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