United States President Donald Trump on Friday, August 22, explained the challenges in arranging a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin by comparing them to mixing “oil and vinegar”.
Oil and vinegar don’t mix well due to their differing chemical properties; oil is hydrophobic (water-repelling) while vinegar is hydrophilic (water-attracting).
Donald Trump also emphasized on how the two leaders don’t get along too well, hence getting them to work together is quite difficult. Donald Trump said, “We’re going to see if Putin and Zelenskyy will be working together. You know, it’s like oil and vinegar a little bit. They don’t get along too well for obvious reasons, but we’ll see. And then we’ll see whether I need to be there. I’d rather not. I’d rather they have a meeting to see how they can do.”
Challenges in bringing Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table
Trump voiced hope that the two leaders could work together to end the war in Ukraine, noting that the conflict between the two countries is claiming about 7,000 lives a week, mostly soldiers.
Speaking of the war casualties, Trump said, “they continue to fight and they continue to kill people, which is very stupid because they’re losing 7,000 people. I used to tell you five, now they’re losing 7,000 people a week. Think of that, they’re losing 7,000 people on average a week. Mostly soldiers.”
Trump claims to have stopped seven wars
The US President then went on to note that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been the most difficult to end, claiming that he has “stopped seven wars”.
“So, we want to see if we could stop it. I’ve stopped seven wars. I want to make this one I thought would have been in the middle of the pack in terms of difficulty, and it’s turning out to be the most difficult,” he said.
US-Russia holds a summit in Alaska
Trump met Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 which was held to hold talks, aiming to bring an end to the Ukraine war. However, no concrete ceasefire deal was made as part of the meeting, Mint said earlier.
Despite the meeting being a negotiating ground, Ukraine was not invited for the talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has publicly refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia, closely tracked the Trump-Putin talks at Alaska along with other European leaders, the news report said.
Zelensky meets Trump in White House
Volodymyr Zelensky met Trump at the White House on August 18, accompanies by an ‘extraordinary’ cadre of European leaders to show Trump a united front against Russia, Reuters reported.
Following talks at the White House, Zelensky said that he would be willing to meet directly with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of his country.
However, the proposed terms laid down by Putin might be difficult for the Ukrainian leader to accept. Russia has said that it will give up small areas of occupied Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine must agree to hand over large parts of its eastern region that Moscow has so far failed to seize, Reuters reported earlier.