A top adviser to President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States needs a Ukrainian leader who is willing to secure a lasting peace with Russia but that it is not clear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared to do so.
Days after a contentious Oval Office exchange between Trump, Zelensky, and Vice President JD Vance, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said Washington wants to secure a permanent peace between Moscow and Kyiv that involves territorial concessions in exchange for European-led security guarantees.
Asked whether Trump wants Zelensky to resign, Waltz told CNN's "State of the Union" program: "We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians and end this war."
"If it becomes apparent that President Zelensky's either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands," Waltz added. "It wasn't clear to us that President Zelensky was ready to negotiate and in good faith towards an end of this war," Waltz said.