Trump says meeting Zelenskyy in Davos on Thursday
The US president said at the World Economic Forum that Russia and Ukraine would be "stupid" not to reach a peace deal.
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DAVOS: US President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine would be "stupid" not to reach a peace deal, adding that he was meeting Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Davos on Thursday.
Trump had earlier said he was meeting with Zelenskyy at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday (Jan 21), despite Kyiv's assertion that the Ukrainian leader, whose country is fighting off a Russian invasion, was not there.
Addressing world leaders at the forum, the US leader had said he would met Zelenskyy "today" and even suggested that he "might be in the audience", but the Ukrainian leader's adviser contradicted that claim.
Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists "the president is in Kyiv", where most of the capital was still without electricity and with residents of 4,000 buildings without heat in sub-zero temperatures after Russian strikes earlier this week.
When Trump was asked by a reporter shortly thereafter if his meeting with Zelenskyy would be on Wednesday or Thursday, he said: "I believe it's tomorrow."
Trump repeated his oft-stated belief that both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy were close to a deal, saying that "too many people are dying" from the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
"I believe they're at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don't, they're stupid - that goes for both of them," said Trump during a short chat with a moderator following his speech.
TRUMP SLAMS NATO
Earlier, he slammed NATO, claiming the United States had not benefitted much from the transatlantic military alliance, which secured Washington's place at the head of the table in the region after World War II.
"What does the United States get out of all of this work, all of this money, other than death, destruction and massive amounts of cash going to people who don't appreciate what we do?" he said.
"They don't appreciate what we do. I'm talking about NATO, I'm talking about Europe."
He added that the United States was "very far away" from Ukraine and did not need to work to secure an end to that conflict.
"We have a big beautiful ocean separating us. We have nothing to do with it," he said.
Zelenskyy has meanwhile voiced fears that Trump's push to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark, which has dominated the Davos forum so far, could divert focus away from Russia's invasion of his country.
"I'm worried about any loss of focus during a full-scale war," Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday.
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