Trump tells Putin it’s ‘time to act’ on cease-fire talks with Zelenskyy

Kyiv is ready to make a deal with Moscow to stop the war in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin should make efforts toward negotiating a truce, United States President-elect Donald Trump said early Sunday.

“There should be an immediate cease-fire and negotiations should begin” in order to “stop the madness,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse,” he said.

“I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!”

Trump made the comments after a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on Saturday. Zelenskyy said earlier that it was a “good and productive” meeting, but he hinted that Kyiv stands by its position of seeking to secure a “just peace.”

“We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way. We spoke about our people, the situation on the ground, and a just peace,” Zelenskyy said in a statement after Saturday’s meeting. “We agreed to continue working together and keep in contact. Peace through strength is possible.”

Several hours after the meeting in Paris, Syrian rebels entered Damascus and claimed Bashar Assad’s regime had fallen. Trump used this to remind the Kremlin that Russia is also in a “weakened state right now” due partly to “Ukraine and a bad economy.”

“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer,” Trump said.

“There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever,” Trump said.

On its side, Ukraine has “ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy on Sunday said that since the beginning of Putin’s full-scale invasion in early 2022, Ukraine has seen 43,000 soldiers killed in battle, with 370,000 wounded.

The Kremlin has said that Russia is not ready for any pause in the war in Ukraine, as it would allow Kyiv to rearm and regroup, but has claimed it is ready for negotiations on Russia’s terms to end the conflict. Moscow insists that Kyiv must withdraw its forces from four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed in 2022 even though it does not fully control them today.

Meanwhile, the outgoing U.S. administration has been pumping Ukraine with weapons, seeking to provide as much military aid as possible before Trump takes office and to strengthen Kyiv ahead of potential cease-fire talks. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday announced a new military aid package of nearly $1 billion for Kyiv.