Due to the hatred between Putin and Zelensky, peacekeeping in Ukraine is difficult

“Abnormal animosity” between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine remains an obstacle to ending the war, but a peace deal is getting closer, President Donald Trump said as he prepares to resume his peacekeeping role.

“There’s a lot of animosity between President Zelensky and President Putin. It’s not good. It’s not good for these communities,” Trump said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“There’s normal animosity. Having said that, I think Russia wants to make a deal. I think Ukraine wants to make a deal and we’re going to try to get a deal,” he said. “If they don’t, they’re idiots.”

Trump is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Davos on Thursday, and special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Trump said the two sides are “reasonably close” to a deal, and Witkoff told CNBC on Wednesday. “Land deals” related to Ukraine. It was the last point to end the war that lasted almost four years.

Witkoff gave further comments on the progress of the talks on Thursday, telling the audience in Davos that there was one final issue left. “If both sides want to work it out, we’ll work it out,” Witkoff said in comments to Reuters.

Zelensky will meet with Trump at 1:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. ET), while Putin will meet with Witkoff and Kushner at 7:00 p.m. Moscow time (9:00 p.m. ET), the Kremlin said.

Europe has been frozen out of discussions on ending the conflict between the US-Russia-Ukraine, mainly trying to protect Kiev from violating peace terms that are unfavorable to its neighbor.

While Trump and his colleagues appear to believe that Putin is ready and willing to negotiate a ceasefire, Ukraine and other regional leaders are skeptical that Russia’s battlefield manpower superiority and annual advances mean it is willing to continue the war and is playing for time by negotiating.

European leaders fear that a poor peace will strengthen Russia’s determination to return to Ukraine later, a concern that is most acute in Europe’s “frontline” states, such as Poland and Finland, which border Russia.

“I would say that regardless of whether a peace agreement is signed or not, despite all the efforts of President Trump, Russia remains a threat to Europe,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki told CNBC on Wednesday.

“If peace is signed, Russia will gather its forces and try to attack Europe in the coming years. If peace is not reached, the war in Ukraine will continue,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.

“The Russian Federation has a unique mindset aimed at attacking and subjugating the countries west of its borders at the political and social level. This means increasing our infrastructure, weapon costs and defense capabilities, as well as strengthening cooperation,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members for not spending enough on defense, and in his speech at the WEF, he once again said the United States was being unfairly treated by its NATO partners:

“We’ve never gotten anything, we’ve been thinking about NATO’s needs for years and years … (so) I think it’s time for NATO to get stronger.”

“We’re helping them with the Ukraine problem. If it wasn’t for us, I think Putin would have gone all the way,” Trump said.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb told CNBC that his country, which will join NATO in 2023, is used to Russian aggression and unpredictability and is doing its part to protect NATO member states, including the United States.

“Finland doesn’t anticipate weakness on Russia’s borders, on the contrary. Why? Because we’ve always had to do it alone. Now we’re part of the (NATO) alliance and we’re actually protecting the United States from possible Russian aggression,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.

“I want to tell all my American friends, listen, we’ve got this. Finland’s border with Russia is 1,340 kilometers. We’ve been using it since independence in 1917, and we’re doing it well,” he said.