Donald Trump has issued a stark warning that the current global situation could easily escalate into “World War III very easily” if peace efforts in Ukraine fail. Speaking to the Justice Department, the US president described such a conflict as “a war like no other”, but remained optimistic about his chances of securing a peace deal with Putin, stating “we’re in pretty good shape”.
He also asserted that Vladimir Putin holds “respect” for the United States and called on the Russian president to release Ukrainian soldiers “surrounded” in Kursk. Trump stated: “I think we’re doing well with Russia, we’re speaking with President Putin, we want to get the war over.”
He claimed that the US had sent nearly $350 billion to Europe, a figure significantly higher than the actual amount of US military aid to Ukraine. He 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.”
He concluded by saying: “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.”, reports The Mirror.
Earlier this week, Kyiv supported proposals from the White House for a 30-day ceasefire to the conflict, but Russia outrightly 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 for the coming days.
In his first comments on the ceasefire on Thursday, the Russian president stated that “the idea is correct, and we certainly support it” but questioned the specifics and suggested certain demands would need to be met for the Kremlin to fully agree.
Meanwhile, G7 allies, including the UK, announced on Friday their united call for a ceasefire with “no conditions” to end the fighting in Ukraine. In a joint statement, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his counterparts “reaffirmed” their support for Ukraine, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and urged Russia to agree to “a ceasefire on equal terms”.
They also condemned North Korean, Iranian and Chinese support for the invasion.
After discussions with allies in Quebec, Mr Lammy remarked: “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.”