Trump: Meeting Between Zelensky and Putin Like Mixing ‘Oil and Vinegar’
Trump says a Zelensky-Putin meeting is like mixing "oil and vinegar," calls war "stupid" meanwhile, NATO's Rutte, in Kyiv, urged robust security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian aggression.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday likened efforts to bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin together for talks to mixing “oil and vinegar,” acknowledging the deep hostility between the two leaders.
“Well, we’ll see. We’re going to see if Putin and Zelensky will be working together. That’s like oil and vinegar, a little bit. They don’t get along too well, for obvious reasons,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about a possible meeting.
Trump stressed he preferred the two presidents to meet independently, without him at the table, but noted that such an encounter remained elusive. “I’d rather not. I’d rather have them have a meeting and see how they can do,” he remarked.
Highlighting the human cost of the war, Trump said the conflict continues to claim lives at an alarming rate. “In the meantime, they continue to fight and they continue to kill people, which is very stupid, because they’re losing 7,000 people now. I used to tell you five, now they’re losing 7,000 people a week. Think of that, they’re losing 7,000 people on average a week. Mostly soldiers,” Trump said.
The U.S. President emphasized his record in halting global conflicts. “I’ve stopped seven wars. I’d like to make this one too. I thought it would have been in the middle of the pack in terms of difficulty, but it’s turning out to be the most difficult,” he admitted.
Trump’s remarks coincided with a visit to Kyiv by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who called for “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine to ensure Russia upholds any future peace deal.
“Robust security guarantees will be essential and this is what we are now working to define,” Rutte said, adding that such measures must prevent Russia from ever again invading Ukraine.
Zelensky, standing alongside the NATO chief, said the guarantees must combine commitments from Western partners with Ukraine’s own military strength after the war. “The guarantees consist of what partners can give Ukraine, as well as what the army in Ukraine should be like once the war ends,” Zelensky explained.
Earlier this week, Trump said Russia had agreed to certain Western security guarantees for Kyiv, though Moscow later dismissed the notion. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov argued that excluding Moscow from such discussions was “a road to nowhere,” reiterating that no credible security deal could be reached without Russia’s involvement.
Rutte, however, emphasized that lessons had been learned from past failures such as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and the Minsk Agreement. Both frameworks were undermined when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, which killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
Despite intensive diplomacy from Washington, NATO, and European allies, the pathway to direct talks between Zelensky and Putin remains blocked. Trump’s characterization of the effort as “oil and vinegar” reflects the entrenched mistrust, while the heavy battlefield toll underscores the urgency of finding a way forward.
