What Trump said after negotiations in Riyadh

“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine,” Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago after his U.S. delegation concluded talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.

Trump claimed Zelensky, who was first elected in 2019, has a “4% approval rating” — despite polls showing the Ukrainian president hovering just above 50%. Presidential elections were originally scheduled for April 2024, but none were held due to the state of martial law in Ukraine, which has been in place since the conflict with Russia began in February 2022.

"The U.S. has been contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to NATO funds. It is important to determine where the money is going. I believe President Zelensky mentioned that he does not know where half of the funds we provided went. I believe we gave him $350 billion—though let's say it was somewhat less than that. Regardless, it was a significant amount. We have to equalize with Europe," Trump emphasized.

Trump’s delegation met with Russian officials for the first time to initiate peace talks in a four-and-a-half-hour meeting in Saudi Arabia, without the presence of any Ukrainian representatives. 

Trump reinforced his call for elections, arguing that Ukraine’s leadership should be chosen by its people.

“You know, they want a seat at the table, wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have to have a say, like it’s been a lot of times since we’ve had an election?” he said.

Clarifying his position, Trump insisted that his push for elections was not influenced by Russia.

“That’s not a Russia thing,” he said. “That’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.”

Earlier, it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A day later, Trump announced that their first meeting, which they agreed upon during the call, would take place in Saudi Arabia.