Ukraine, Russia prepare for possible peace talks as Trump vows to end war

[Ryan Robertson]

RUSSIA’S THREE-DAY MILITARY OPERATION IN  UKRAINE IS HEADING INTO ITS THIRD YEAR…

AND UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY SAYS HE’S READY TO NEGOTIATE WITH RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN–WITH SOME CAVEATS, THOUGH

THE ANNOUNCEMENT COMES WITH THE RETURN OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP TO THE WHITE HOUSE … RAISING THE POSSIBILITY OF RENEWED NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES. 

TRUMP FIRST REVEALED HE TALKED TO PUTIN DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW YORK POST SATURDAY, BUT DIDN’T REVEAL SPECIFICS. HE SAYS HE PLANS TO MEET WITH ZELENSKYY SOMETIME THIS WEEK. 

TRUMP TOLD REPORTERS SUNDAY  … THE U-S IS EFFECTIVELY HELPING ADVANCE THE TALKS WITH BOTH SIDES. 

i do believe we are making progress… we want to stop the ukraine russia war and I want to stop because I hate to see all these young people being killed.. Soldiers are being killed by the hundreds of thousands. 

DURING AN INTERVIEW OVER THE WEEKEND WITH BRITISH BROADCASTER I-T-V NEWS, ZELENSKYY SAID HE IS WILLING TO NEGOTIATE… BUT ONLY IF THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT UKRAINE. 

Zelenskyy said: our power the power of ukrainians in power of friends of people of your countries and if we will lose it i think this is the most important if we will lose it we will lose everything we can’t lose people in the world who are on our side so this is very important this is for today real security guarantees for ukrainians, this is we we need more security guarantees from our partners but what we have for this day, this security guarantees we have support of the people and i’m proud that we have such relations.

ZELENSKYY ALSO WARNED AGAINST THE PROSPECT OF A FROZEN CONFLICT – WHEN A WAR IS BROUGHT TO AN END BUT THE UNDERLYING ISSUES CAUSING THE CONFLICT ARE NOTFULLY ADDRESSED.

PUTIN SAID IN THE PAST HE IS NOT WILLING TO NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY WITH ZELENSKYY.

MEANWHILE, ZELENSKYY IS SET TO MEET WITH VICE PRESIDENT J-D VANCE AT THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE IN SOUTHERN GERMANY THIS COMING WEEKEND, ACCORDING TO C-B-S NEWS.

TRUMP’S UKRAINE-RUSSIA ENVOY, KEITH KELLOGG, IS THEN EXPECTED TO VISIT UKRAINE ON FEBRUARY 20TH.

WHILE PREPARING FOR NEW TALKS, BOTH MOSCOW AND KYIV CONTINUED THEIR EXCHANGE OF DRONE ATTACKS ON SUNDAY NIGHT.

UKRAINE’S AIR FORCE SAYS IT DOWNED 61 RUSSIAN DRONES LAUNCHED TOWARDS THE COUNTRY, WHILE RUSSIA’S DEFENSE MINISTRY SAYS IT SHOT DOWN 17 UKRANIAN DRONES.