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Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he expected a response from Russia regarding a possible peace agreement with Ukraine later this week.
“We’re going to be hearing from them this week, very shortly, actually, and we’ll see,” Trump said during a press appearance at the White House.
Trump also spoke again about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “I am not happy with him, and I’m not happy with anybody involved.”
“I’m not blaming him, but what I am saying is that I wouldn’t say he’s done the greatest job. OK, I’m not a big fan,” Trump said of Zelensky.
Trump again blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for the war, as he had done recently when he also blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky.
Trump wants a swift end to the war and a rapprochement between the United States and Russia. His special envoy Steve Witkoff recently travelled to Moscow several times to speak with Putin.
Meanwhile, France said President Emmanuel Macron was satisfied with the outcome of Thursday’s talks in Paris with US, European and Ukrainian representatives on a possible end to the Ukraine war.
The meetings included Macron, Witkoff, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, German officials and Ukrainian ministers.
“Today in Paris, we launched a positive process in which the Europeans are involved,” the French presidency said.
A new meeting of envoys from the US, France, Britain, Germany and Ukraine will take place next week in London, it added.


Rubio called Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the Paris meeting.
“President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace,” Rubio told his Russian counterpart, according to the US State Department.
“The encouraging reception in Paris to the US framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement,” he added.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said Lavrov “reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue collaborative efforts with American counterparts to comprehensively address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis”.
Lavrov and Rubio agreed on the need to maintain “prompt communication channels”, in light of the London meeting next week, the statement said.
Zelensky, who has clashed with Trump, also praised the talks.
“It is important that we hear each other, refine and clarify our positions, and work for the sake of real security of Ukraine and all our Europe,” Zelensky said in a social media post.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, dismissed the Paris meeting, saying earlier that Europeans seemed to have “a focus on continuing the war”.
France and Britain have sought a coordinated European response to defending Ukraine, during the conflict and in any ceasefire, after Trump shocked them by opening talks with Russia.

Macron said the Paris talks were “a very important occasion for convergence”, as everybody wanted “a robust and sustainable peace”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters the talks had been a breakthrough because the US, Ukraine, and European ministers had “gathered around the same table” when Europe had previously feared it would be excluded from decision-making.
The US “has understood that a just and sustainable peace … can only be achieved with the consent and contribution of Europeans,” he added later on LCI television.
Zelensky earlier accused Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.
“I believe that Mr Witkoff has taken on the strategy of the Russian side,” Zelensky told reporters.
“It is very dangerous, because he is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives.”
Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to “permanent peace” after talks with the Kremlin chief in Saint Petersburg.
Despite the diplomatic efforts, Russia has continued to strike Ukraine.
Russian drone strikes and shelling in Ukraine killed at least 12 people on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said, just days after a Russian attack killed at least 35 people in the northeastern city of Sumy.


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US, European and Ukrainian representatives during their meeting in Paris on April 17. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) shakes hands with Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, before talks in Saint Petersburg on Friday. Photo: Sputnik, Kremlin/AP

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US, European and Ukrainian representatives also met in Paris to push for a swift end to the war


US, European and Ukrainian representatives also met in Paris to push for a swift end to the war.
