Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump lashes out at ‘boasting’ Zelensky after claiming US peace deal is close

Donald Trump has said that he thinks he has a deal with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The US president told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that he believes he has made a deal to settle the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

He also, however, implied that a deal with Zelensky remained elusive – adding that the Ukrainian leader had been more difficult to deal with than Putin.

Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:

Ukraine knows what happens when it defies Donald Trump. As a taster, it suffered suspended military aid, and later its intelligence feed from the US was cut – just as Russia launched attacks in its Kursk province.

According to Kyiv, Moscow has massed close to 70,000 troops on Ukraine’s northern border and may be planning a major drive into Ukraine.

Kyiv’s forces are bracing for that – keeping the Ukrainian president safe at home, where he’s only got drones, missiles and Russian assassins to fear.

Below, world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes that Donald Trump’s best option now is to walk away from his so-called peace talks:

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that talks in London were marked by emotions and expressed hope that future joint work would lead to peace.

“Emotions have run high today. But it is good that 5 countries met to bring peace closer,” he wrote on social media. “The American side shared its vision. Ukraine and other Europeans presented their inputs.”

He pledged Ukraine would always abide by its constitution – in other words, Ukraine will not cede Crimea to Russia, which Donald Trump insists was already done in 2014.

He added: “We are absolutely sure that our partners in particular the USA will act in line with its strong decisions” – referring to Washington’s Crimea Declaration of 2018, clearly stating the US refused to recognise Russia’s claims over Crimea.

In a meeting on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of AI, saying: “Whoever begins to master these technologies faster, in this case in military affairs, will have huge advantages on the battlefield.”

Donald Trump, in his angry social media post attacking Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote: “I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever.”

He did not cite a source for the 5,000 figure. But calculations by The Independent suggest the figure is a lot lower.

Russia rarely comments on battlefield losses.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this year, over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed.

That equates to 213 a week since the start of the war.

According to figures released by Kyiv, UN statistics, and open-source data published by BBC Russia, as of March 31 this year, the total death toll of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, as well as Ukrainian civilians stood at 158,341.

Dividing that by the approximate number of weeks the fighting has lasted gives 733. Since that includes civilians, no one can be certain of how many soldiers are being killed a week.

The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, has claimed that “there are always chances” that Russia and US could reach a deal, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

It was not clear if Mr Naryshkin was referring to negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine, or an economic deal between Washington and Moscow.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has sought to hit back at Donald Trump’s attack on him, by reminding the US president of Washington’s historic commitment to the principle of opposing countries seizing territory by force.

Mr Zelensky published a screenshot of the Crimea Declaration of 2018, which upholds UN Charter, pledging to refrain from “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

The states of the world, including Russia, agreed to this principle in the charter, the US Crimea Declaration says.

Posting the screenshot of the declaration, Mr Zelensky wrote on social media: “Emotions have run high today.

“But it is good that 5 countries met to bring peace closer. Ukraine, the USA, the UK, France and Germany. The sides expressed their views and respectfully received each other’s positions. “