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US President Donald Trump said late on Tuesday he’s received a letter from Volodymyr Zelensky agreeing to “come to the negotiating table” to strike a peace deal with Russia and also announced Russia is \u201cready for peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
“I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said as he addressed a joint session of Congress in Washington, BBC reported.<\/p>\n
It came after Zelensky said in a social media post that he was ready to work under Trump’s “strong leadership” to achieve a lasting peace.<\/p>\n
The statements indicate a cooling of tensions between the leaders following their fiery meeting in the Oval Office last week.<\/p>\n
In his address to Congress, Trump said he received an “important letter” from Zelensky on Tuesday, before reading what he said were excerpts from it.<\/p>\n
Parts of what he read used precisely the same language as the\u00a0statement posted by Zelensky earlier on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“The letter reads Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
Continuing to read from what he said was Zelensky’s letter, Trump said: “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”<\/p>\n
Trump also said Zelensky told him he was ready to\u00a0sign a rare earth minerals deal with the US.<\/p>\n
Ukraine is yet to comment on the letter.<\/p>\n
The US president also said there had been “serious discussions” with Russia, and he’d “received strong signals that they are ready for peace”.<\/p>\n
Trump did not indicate when the talks took place, or whether he was personally involved in them.<\/p>\n
“It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides,” he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky described the White House showdown with Trump as “regrettable” in the wake of the US announcing a pause in military aid to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said “it was time to make things right”, after Trump had accused him of not being ready to come to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian leader also outlined the first stages of how the war could be ended.<\/p>\n
The Oval Office meeting between Zelensky and US officials last week was due to conclude with the two parties signing a deal that would grant the US access to rare earth minerals in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
After the clash, which saw Trump accuse Zelensky of\u00a0“gambling with World War Three”, the Ukrainian delegation left without signing the deal. Trump told Zelensky: “Come back when you’re ready for peace.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n