DONALD Trump has warned that Europe sending troops to Ukraine after a peace deal could end up in a catastrophic World War Three.
The US president has also called for Ukraine to hold fresh elections before a ceasefire is achieved.
Trump, in a press conference at his opulent Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, criticized Ukraine’s leadership for permitting a conflict that he believes should have been avoided.
The former president expressed concern that the situation could rapidly intensify into a global conflict if European nations decide to deploy a peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine, as proposed by Sir Keir Starmer and supported by a group of European leaders.
Trump said: “[The war] could end up in a World War Three. Europe is saying they want to send troops to Ukraine.
“All of a sudden you are going to end up with World War Three.”
Meanwhile, top diplomats from Russia and the US today met in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
The discussions involved US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s representative for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who gathered at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh.
They were joined by outspoken Putin cronies Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushako.
After some five hours of crunch talks, both parties reportedly agreed that elections should be held in Ukraine before a final peace deal is achieved.
The proposal has now sparked speculations that Zelensky could be ousted and a pro-Russian leadership could be installed in Kyiv.
Trump, however, emphasised that the proposal for a fresh election in Ukraine is something “not coming from the Russian side” but from the US.
He said today: “We haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law and the country is blown to smithereens.
“The leader in Ukraine, I hate to say it, but [Zelesnky] is down at 4% approval rating and the people of Ukraine say like, ‘It has been a long time since we have had election’.”
During the crunch talks, The US delegation led by Rubio also agreed not to send any troops to Ukraine.
This opposes Starmer’s call, backed by other European leaders, to put peacekeeping troops in Ukraine as part of any peace deal brokered by the US President.
All we know from day one of the peace talks
- No new details on when Putin and Trump will meet
- Full embassy staffing agreed
- Both sides agree to create “high level teams”
- Vlad will speak to Zelensky “if necessary”
- Proposal to hold fresh election before final deal
- Russia won’t allow Ukraine to join Nato
- Kremlin wants to end Western sanctions
- Zelensky postpones Saudi trip as he blasts unfair meeting
Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a rallying cry to Europe urging leaders to “step up” and deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
The PM vowed the UK will “do our bit” to try and enforce a peace deal.
Speaking in Paris, the PM said: “Europe must play its role, and I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.
“But there must be a US backstop because a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”
The bold move put pressure on Britain’s allies to also publicly back the idea of a European peacekeeping force in war-torn Ukraine.
France and Sweden spoke out in favour of the plan at a crisis summit in Paris on Monday but didn’t go as far as Starmer who said he is willing to deploy British troops.
But the idea was dramatically rejected by a number of other fellow leaders.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Starmer’s pleas as “premature” and “highly inappropriate”.
He then stormed out of the meeting adding that the sheer thought of making decisions seemingly on behalf of Ukraine was “irritating”.
Trump is also said to withdraw US troops from Nato’s front line with Russia in the Baltics, a report claims.
The US president is looking to pull American forces out of parts of Europe.
It is not clear whether that withdrawal would be part of a wider peace deal with Putin or something Trump wants to do independently of that.
Just days ago, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that the US is no longer “primarily focused” on Europe’s security.
The historic US-Russia meeting lasted for almost five hours with Moscow and Washington being joined by Saudi representatives who helped monitor the talks.
Both sides said they were hugely beneficial.
Close Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the talks “went well” as he also revealed negotiators have agreed to talk about the war in Ukraine from either side, IFAX reported.
Russia’s lead negotiator told reporters after the talks: “It was a very serious conversation on all the questions we wanted to touch upon.”
Secretary of State Rubio said the meeting showed him that the Kremlin is finally “willing to begin to engage in a serious process”.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce later said the two sides have agreed to appoint “respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”.
However, Ukraine was notably excluded from the peace talks in Riyadh today, which left both President Zelensky and his European allies annoyed and frustrated.
Zelensky even announced he has postponed his official visit to Saudi Arabia until March 10 – despite him initially being scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
The move has been done in order to not give any “legitimacy” to the US-Russia meeting, two sources told Reuters.
He said any negotiations “should not take place behind our backs” as he reiterated a peace deal will only be agreed if it is fair for all those involved – not just Putin.
TYRANT’S WISH LIST
Putin said he is ready to speak to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to help find an end to the war “if necessary”.
Putin and Zelensky have never spoken directly to one another over Vlad’s illegal invasion three years ago.
But the dictator is now said to be ready to negotiate.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced today Putin will talk to Zelensky “if necessary” to help achieve peace.
Peskov said: “Putin himself said that he would be ready to negotiate with Zelensky if necessary but the legal basis of agreements needs discussion considering the reality that Zelensky’s legitimacy can be questioned.”
Putin is expected to make a number of deranged demands when he finally meets Trump for peace talks in order to continue his reign of tyranny.
The Russian dictator is believed to want to ensure his delusional dreams of a new and powerful Soviet empire won’t be blocked by any deal.
Those who have spoken to Vlad claim his main ambition has always been to establish a new security framework that allows Russia to have a strong Soviet-sphere of influence in Europe.
This means a deal would only be agreed if Russia keep the land they have already stolen – expanding their own borders.
Ukraine would also have to give back the Russian city of Kursk which they managed to counter-invade last year.
Another key demand of Moscow’s is to ban Kyiv from joining Nato.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also been adamant that there is no chance Ukraine would be allowed a membership to the group.
Brave Zelensky has long campaigned with European leaders to grant Kyiv a spot as it would give them protection over Putin’s army.
Putin will also be pressing for an end to banking and industrial sanctions as well as travel curbs on Russians imposed following his illegal invasion three years ago.
Zelensky has also said he would be prepared to “compromise” and meet with Putin if it means ending the bloodshed in his country.
