The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. on Sunday said “all of Ukraine prays” for the Friday meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to be “effective and to have great results.”
“So yes, we want Putin to stop, and we really are hopeful that this push from President Trump, and the sanction packages which are on the table, and secondary sanctions which are already implemented against those who help Russia, will convince President Putin that this is time for him to finally stop his aggression,” Ambassador Oksana Markarova told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
Markarova said she appreciated Trump pushing to end the war, and Vice President Vance’s recent trip to England to discuss Trump’s efforts toward peace.
She later reiterated Trump raising tariffs on India as something that made her feel “confident that the U.S. will be coming from the position of strength, you know, peace through strength, and that will allow us, together, to find a solution to stop Russia’s aggression.”
Last Wednesday, Trump announced he would raise tariffs on India by 25 percent because of its buying of Russian oil, bringing the total tariffs the president has placed on the Southeast Asian country to 50 percent.
The president also said last week he will meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday, hosting him for talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not currently expected to attend.
However, earlier on Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said “it’s possible” that Zelensky attends the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska. Markarova did not confirm if Zelensky would be showing up.
Moscow has shared a ceasefire agreement with the Trump administration, demanding control of Eastern Ukraine in exchange for a halt in the three-year-long war.
However, Zelensky, who is not currently invited to the Alaskan meeting, adamantly opposed the new deal.
“Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. These are stillborn decisions,” Zelensky posted on the social platform X.
