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US President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint a special envoy to hold talks on a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine according to US TV channel Fox News which cited multiple sources.
"You're going to see a very senior special envoy, someone with a lot of credibility, who will be given a task to find a resolution, to get to a peace settlement," one of the sources said in the report on Wednesday. "You're going to see that in short order," it said. According to Fox News, the job is not expected to be a salaried role; Kurt Volker served as a special representative to Ukrainian negotiations on a volunteer basis in 2017-19. Previously, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, ahead of the US presidential election, said that it makes no difference for Russia what the election outcome will be, given the two-party consensus that emerged in the United States regarding the confrontation toward the country. "If anything changes in the US policy and any proposals to us appear, we will be ready to examine them in terms of matching Russia's interests. In any case Russia will resolutely defend its interests, particularly where national security is concerned," she had said. According to the New York Times, Trump has been openly skeptical about continuing American aid to Ukraine, and has said he can bring about an end to the war in one day -- without saying how. In an interview with Fox News in July this year, Trump said, "I would tell Zelensky, no more -- you got to make a deal," "I would tell Putin, If you don't make a deal, we're going to give him a lot." Trump and. Zelensky spoke last week, but neither side made public what was discussed as per the NYT. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels on November 13 said the Joe Biden administration would make sure every dollar at its disposal would be "pushed out the door" before Donald Trump takes office. According to a report in the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels yesterday for bilateral talks. "The Secretary underscored the United States' support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia's aggression and continues on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership," according to a statement by the US State Department. President Joe Biden on Wednesday welcomed President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House as part of the transition process in a meeting at the Oval Office. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the meeting "substantive," and said they discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world. Biden and Trump were joined by White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. President-elect Trump told The New York Post that he and President Biden "both really enjoyed seeing each other" "You know, it's been a long, it's been a long slog," the 78-year-old said during a phone interview as he left Washington. "It's been a lot of work on both sides and he did a very good job with respect to campaigning and everything else. We really had a really good meeting." Trump told the publication that he and Biden discussed the war in Ukraine. The president-elect added that he and Biden did discuss two issues on which they have differed in the past: the war in Ukraine, which Trump has promised to end almost immediately upon taking office; and the ongoing war in West Asia. "I wanted -- I asked for his views and he gave them to me," Trump told The Post. "Also, we talked very much about the Middle East, likewise. I wanted to know his views on where we are and what he thinks. And he gave them to me, he was very gracious." Trump was cited as saying. (ANI)
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