Trump: Russia holds the cards in Ukraine war negotiations

Shafaq News/ US President Donald Trump considered that Russia holds "the cards" in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, according to UK media outlets.

Speaking to the BBC, the US president said he believes Moscow wants the three-year Russia-Ukraine war to end. "I think the Russians want to see the war end, I really do. I think they have the cards a little bit, because they've taken a lot of territory,” he told reporters.

“They have the cards.”

On Tuesday, senior US and Russian officials began talks in Riyadh to ease tensions between both countries and end the Russia-Ukraine war. The meeting, attended by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and National Security Advisor Musaad Al-Aiban, paved the way for a potential summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia.

In the meeting, Russia insisted that NATO revoke its 2008 commitment to eventually grant Ukraine membership in the US-led alliance and rejected the notion of NATO forces serving as peacekeepers in any potential ceasefire arrangement.

"We explained to our colleagues what President Putin has repeatedly stressed: that the expansion of NATO, the absorption of Ukraine by the North Atlantic alliance, is a direct threat to the interests of the Russian Federation, a direct threat to our sovereignty," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed.