Trump says it will be 'a very bad thing' if Zelensky does not want to settle the war, and that Europe is 'tired' of paying

US President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday 20 October that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must want a settlement with Russia, as US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in Oslo with Zelensky and European officials.

“Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war, and if he doesn’t, I think it’s going to be a very bad thing,” Trump said, according to Anadolu Agency and Al Jazeera. He said the European Union “has quite a bit of money, although I have to tell you they’re getting tired of spending it”, and that “the United States has spent a fortune. Europe has spent a fortune.”

Asked whether the peace process was back on track, Trump said: “I think what’s happening is that Russia would like to get it done.” He said the “hatred” between Putin and Zelensky was “tremendous” and that the two did not have to be in the same room for a deal: “I don’t care how it’s done.”

Asked about US citizen Stephen Hubbard, Trump said he had been talking to Putin “at length” and had asked him to release him, Anadolu reported. Russia freed Hubbard the next day as Witkoff met Putin in St Petersburg.

On Iran, Trump said “we’re doing very well”, adding: “We just have to make a final decision of which way do we want to win? Do we want to win the nice way or the not nice way?”, CBS News reported.

Zelensky told Fox News on Wednesday that a halt to the fighting, “call it a ceasefire or a stop to the killing, as President Trump said”, was “the minimum we expect today from Russia”, franceinfo reported (our translation from French).

See also: Putin tells Witkoff Russia is ready in principle to resume three-way talks.