Trump says Ukraine ‘more difficult’ to deal with than Russia

US President Donald Trump said he finds it “more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine” from Russia in attempts to mediate peace between the two countries.

Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Friday: “The United States” is well afflicted with Russia, and “it may be easier to deal with” Moscow “.

Hours ago, Trump said he “is strongly considering” sanctions and definitions widely on Russia until a ceasefire with Ukraine is reached.

Meanwhile, the United States temporarily stopped the arrival of Ukraine to some satellite images.

It comes exactly one week after An extraordinary White House exchangeWhere Trump reprimanded Ukrainian President Voludmir Zelinski because he was “unresolved” for the United States.

This was followed by wearing public clothes this week by Trump, which stops everything American military aid and Sharing intelligence with Kyiv.

Russia then conducted a large -scale attack on energy infrastructure in Ukraine on Thursday evening.

Trump The threat of more penalties It seems that Russia, which was apparently approved in response to this attack. He said he was thinking about a new tariff because “Russia” was launching Ukraine at all in the battlefield now.

But within hours, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin was behaving as anyone else did.

“I think it is beating them [Ukraine] Trump said, “It is more difficult than he was hitting them, and I think anyone may do this in this situation now,” Trump said.

He added that he believed that Putin wants to end the war, but he could not say the same from Ukraine.

“I want to know they are [Ukraine] Trump said when asked why he cut aid to Kyiv.

Trump’s direct diplomacy with Putin surprised NATO allies, because the West has avoided contacts with Moscow since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 to Ukraine.

Despite Trump’s ranks with Zelensky, the tone of the foreign policy team looked more suitable for Ukraine, after arranging it in the form of military support and intelligence cut.

The Americans want Zelensky to sign a deal that would give them a large share in Ukrainian minerals, and to agree to a quick truce with Moscow.

Zelensky presses for fixed security guarantees, to be agreed upon as part of the deal. Speaking on Friday, Trump said this security guarantee can later be discussed and will be the “easy part”.

Meanwhile, the MAXAR BBC Space Technology Company told the United States that the United States temporarily suspended Ukrainian access to some high -quality American satellite images.

Satellite images are an important tool during the war as it allows armies to collect intelligence on their competitors.

Maxar, a US -based company, has contracts to provide satellite images for various governments and companies.

One of these things is the global GLOINT Geoint program (Gegd), which allows users to access high -quality images collected by the United States government.

“The United States government decided temporarily to suspend the Ukrainian accounts in GEGD,” Maxar told the BBC. “Each customer makes their own decisions about how they use and share these data.”

The National Agency for Spatial Geographical Lt.

Next week, senior officials in Trump will travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to meet the Zelinski team, amid increasing pressure to participate in Trump’s demands.

The President of Ukraine said Hope the conversations will be “meaningful”. On Friday, he said that his country was “ready for peace as soon as possible” and suggested “concrete steps” to achieve this.

“Every day, the new Russian strikes and the same reality prove that it is Russia that must be forced to peace,” he added.

Zelensky expressed his regret for the days that passed on his general clash with Trump and worked to reform relations with the United States.

On Thursday, US Special Envoy Steve Whitkov said that Trump was receiving a message from Zelinski that included “an apology” and “a feeling of gratitude.”

“We hope that we will bring things back to the right path with the Ukrainians, and everything is resumed,” said Witkov.

UK officials said that about 20 countries are interested in joining a “The Alliance of those who wish” to help UkraineWhile European leaders are advancing with much larger military expenditures.

Fighting on the ground continued in Ukraine on Friday, where five people were killed by Russian forces, Donetsk, according to the local authorities.

Additional reports by Jake Horton, BBC verified