Trump says Russia willing to reach deal to end conflict

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Russia was willing to reach a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine, while accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of being unwilling to negotiate a settlement.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said the conflict could have been resolved on multiple occasions and that Zelensky could have secured more favorable terms had he reached an agreement two years ago.

"I think that Russia would like to make a deal," Trump said, adding that "for whatever reason, Zelensky does not want to make a deal".

Trump also called on Ukraine to hold an election and replace Zelensky with a new leader who could reach a deal with Russia.

"(Russian President Vladimir Putin) would like to see a settlement strongly. And he's freeing up a lot of oil for the world," Trump said.

The remarks came a day after Trump held a phone conversation with Putin and announced an agreement under which Russia would supply diesel fuel to the United States and global markets.

Zelensky criticized the agreement, warning that additional energy revenues would help finance Russia's operations in Ukraine.

He said on Sunday that Ukraine is ready to halt its attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow ceases its own strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Any steps to de-escalate the conflict must be mutual and come with real guarantees, he said.

Meanwhile, US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks with Ukrainian and European representatives in Miami, Florida, on Friday as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Ukrainian drone attacks during Russia's parliamentary elections had effectively derailed prospects for an immediate resumption of peace talks.

A Ukrainian drone attack shut down a data center run by Russian technology giant Yandex, the company said on Sunday, the third strike on its facilities in four days.

The attack on the data center in Vladimir, east of Moscow, caused outages across Yandex's services, leaving users in dozens of Russian cities and in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia unable to order taxis or access banking services, according to Russian news outlet Astra.

Early on Saturday, a Russian glide bomb attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia killed 20 people, including three children, according to Ukraine's state rescue service.

An Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene saw rescuers pulling people from the rubble.

"We saw people under the rubble — a woman, her husband and a child," one rescuer, Daniil Pishkin, told AFP.

Also on Saturday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham reiterated his "complete solidarity" with Zelensky amid tensions between Washington and Kyiv over the US-Russia diesel agreement.

During a phone call with Zelensky, Burnham acknowledged that the past 24 hours had been difficult for Ukraine and reiterated his complete solidarity, according to a statement from 10 Downing Street.

Burnham said the United Kingdom would continue to strengthen sanctions against Russia. The two leaders also agreed to meet in person in the coming days to continue their discussions, the statement said.

XINHUA-AGENCIES