Russia and Ukraine are close to an agreement to end the conflict, US President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with the “Financial Times.” According to him, the two countries have reached a point at which they can choose a negotiated solution.
“I think both sides are at the stage where they can say: Let’s make a deal,” Trump said.
The “Financial Times” described the US president’s assessment as positive regarding the prospects for the upcoming peace talks. However, Ukrainian negotiators do not share this optimism, the newspaper reported.
The next round of talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine is expected to take place in November in Abu Dhabi. As of October 28, the date of the meeting had still not been set. This means that, at present, there is no confirmed peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, while the assessment that a breakthrough is near remains the position of the US president.
Washington and Tehran discuss uranium beneath the rubble
In the same interview, Trump said that the United States is continuing indirect talks with Iran over the fate of the enriched uranium reserves left beneath the rubble after US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“We are not comfortable leaving the uranium under the rubble,” the president said. He уточнил, че материалът се намира под стотици тонове скална маса, но въпросът остава сред темите, обсъждани чрез непреки канали между Вашингтон и Техеран.
According to estimates cited by US media, the amount is about 1,000 pounds, or approximately 450 kilograms, of enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency is unable to verify the condition of Iran’s stockpiles following the strikes.
Washington is seeking to clarify where the material is located and what condition it is in, while talks with Iran continue without a publicly announced final agreement. “We’ll see how it all develops,” Trump said.
Sources: moneycontrol.com, apnews.com, m.economictimes.com