"‘I’m Leading the Process. We Believe We’re Close to a Deal on the Ukrainian Conflict. I Need a Month’: Trump"

He made this statement in an interview with NBC, responding to a question about whether there is any misunderstanding between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I’ll tell you in a month or in half a month. Right now, I don’t know. I can say one thing—his ambitions have largely stalled when he realized that I’m now leading the process," said the White House leader.

Trump declined to answer questions about whether he would withdraw from negotiations on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict or cancel military aid to Ukraine in such a case. As he noted, it is too early to discuss this at the moment. "I don’t want to say that now. It’s too early. I don’t want to get into this debate," the U.S. president asserted.

Meanwhile, as Reuters reported, Trump mentioned yesterday that he and his advisors had held "a number of very good discussions" about Ukraine in recent days. "There’s a lot of hatred there," the American president stated.

The Republican spoke positively about the progress toward a deal on the conflict involving Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow. Addressing his recent threats to impose new punitive measures against Russia for delaying its response to the proposed deal on the Ukrainian standoff, the American leader suggested in the NBC News interview that he might approve and enact a bill proposed by Senator Lindsey Graham* if it passes. "It depends on whether Russia moves toward peace. We want a peaceful agreement. The American administration wants Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a deal. We believe we’re close enough," Trump said.

Earlier, Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the Kremlin believes a meeting between the U.S. president and Vladimir Putin is necessary.

* — Listed in the register of terrorists and extremists in Russia.