The US president said that a global conflict would be “a war like no other” as he talked up his chances of getting the Russian leader to sign a peace deal
Donald Trump has issued a stark warning about the potential for the current global tensions to escalate into “World War III very easily” should peace efforts in Ukraine not succeed.
He conveyed these sentiments during his talk with the Justice Department tonight, indicating the gravity of such a conflict by saying it would be “a war like no other” The US president remains optimistic, however, about the United States’ ability to broker a peace deal, highlighting that “we’re in pretty good shape”.
Trump expressed his belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin holds “respect” for the US and reiterated his call for the release of Ukrainian soldiers trapped in Kursk.
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In his words: “I think we’re doing well with Russia, we’re speaking with President Putin, we want to get the war over. We sent nearly $350 billion to Europe” he claimed, repeating an exceedingly high figure when referencing US military support to Ukraine. Trump continued: “We’ve had some very good calls today with Russia, and with Ukraine, they’ve agreed to a ceasefire if we can get it with Russia. And it’s not easy. It’s a tough one.”
“I think we have it, I think we have it, but this could lead to World War III, very easily, could very easily lead to World War III. But I think we’re in pretty good shape, a lot better than where we were before we got involved. That was heading into World War III territory, that would’ve been a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, and other types of weapons that you don’t even wanna know about.”
Earlier this week, Kyiv supported proposals from the White House for a 30-day ceasefire to the conflict, but Russia has out rightly rejected this. US envoy Steve Witkoff later presented these plans directly to Putin in a meeting on Thursday and arranged a phone call between Trump and Putin scheduled to occur in the coming days, reports the Mirror.
In his initial comments on the ceasefire on Thursday, the Russian president stated that “the idea is correct, and we certainly support it”, but he questioned the specifics and suggested certain demands would need to be met for the Kremlin to fully agree.
On Friday, G7 allies, including the UK, expressed their unity in calling for an unconditional ceasefire to stop the fighting in Ukraine. In a joint statement, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his counterparts “reaffirmed” their backing for Ukraine, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and urged Russia to agree to “a ceasefire on equal terms”.
They also denounced North Korean, Iranian and Chinese support for the invasion.
Following a meeting with partners in Quebec, Mr Lammy stated: “I think that there is a unified approach that we need an enduring peace that lasts, I think that there is unity that now is the time for a ceasefire with no conditions. Ukraine has set their position out.
“It is now for Russia to accept it. I think that there is a coalition of the willing emerging to give Ukraine the security architecture and arrangements that they need, and to get into the detail of any monitoring of that ceasefire, going forward.
“On all of that, there was common ground, and the G7 family came together.”