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Trump's security advisor calls him driving force behind Ukraine talks

According to Mike Waltz, Trump is interested in resolving the conflict and could make "Ukraine, Russia, and Europe" start thinking about ending it

NEW YORK, February 20. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump is a driving force for the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, national security adviser Mike Waltz said during a Fox News TV broadcast.

"You're going to have voices from the outside saying it should happen this way or that way, but he (Trump - TASS) is the one driving this forward, and it was an honor to be with Secretary [Marco] Rubio and [Trump's special envoy] Steve Witkoff as we had that very first important discussion with the Russians," Waltz said.

According to him, Trump is interested in resolving the conflict and could make "Ukraine, Russia, and Europe" start thinking about ending it.

The Russian and US delegations held talks in Riyadh on February 18 which lasted about four and a half hours. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff participated in the negotiations. Representatives of the two countries discussed primarily the US-Russia relations.

The talks in Saudi Arabia were made possible by a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump on February 12. The two leaders discussed a number of international issues, including the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, and agreed to organize a face-to-face meeting.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine United States Donald Trump

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