U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants Ukraine and Russia to "work out some agreement" to improve their relations.
"If Ukraine and Russia can work out some agreement where they get along, to me that'd be very good," Trump told reporters near the White House on February 23, journalist Aaron Rupar said on Twitter.
"If Ukraine and Russia can work out some agreement where they get along, to me that'd be very good" -- brilliant insights on international relations from Trump pic.twitter.com/lgrsUK1h10
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2020
According to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, a reporter had asked Trump to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent accusations that other countries were trying to split neighbors Russia and Ukraine apart, saying the two predominantly Slavic and Orthodox Christian countries would be a world superpower if they came together.
"Well, I'd like to see them come together. I think if they came together in the sense that they got along with each other, that would be a great thing," he told reporters on February 23 before departing on Marine Force One for his maiden voyage to India.
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About 7 percent of Ukraine's territory has remained beyond Kyiv's control since 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and subsequently backed two self-proclaimed republics in the two easternmost Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
More than 13,000 people have been killed in the war and an additional 1.5 million people have been internally displaced.
