US President Donald Trump says he has received a letter from Volodymyr Zelensky, who agrees to “come to the negotiation table” to start a peaceful deal in Ukraine.
“I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said as he turned to a joint session at the Washington Congress.
This came after Zelenski said in a social media publication that he was ready to work under Trump's “strong leadership” to achieve lasting peace.
The statements show the cooling of the tension between the leaders after their fiery meeting in the oval office last week.
In his address to Congress, Trump said he had received an “important letter” from Zelenski on Tuesday before reading what he said were excerpts from him.
Parts of what he reads uses exactly the same language as A statement published by Zelenski early on Tuesday.
“The letter states that Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace. No one wants peace more than Ukrainians,” Trump said.
Continuing to read from what he said is Zelenski's letter, Trump said: “My team and I are ready to work under the strong leadership of President Trump to get peace that goes on.”
Trump also said Zelenski told him he was ready Sign the order of rare ground minerals with the United States.
Ukraine is still going to comment on the letter.
The US president also said he has “serious discussions” with Russia and he “received strong signals that they were ready for peace.”
Trump did not indicate when the negotiations were held or whether he personally participated in them.
“It's time to end this meaningless war. If you want to end the wars, you have to talk to both sides,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Zelenski described the White House display with Trump as “regret” as a result of the United States, announcing a pause in Kiev's military assistance.
Zelenski said it was “time to fix things” after Trump accused him of not ready to come to the negotiating table.
The Ukrainian leader also outlined the first stages of how the war can be stopped.
The oval cabinet meeting between Zelenski and US officials had to end with the two countries that sign a deal that would provide US access to rare earthly minerals in Ukraine.
After the collision seeing Trump blaming Zelenski for “Gambling with the Third World War”The Ukrainian delegation left without signing the deal. Trump said to Zelenski, “Come back when you are ready for peace.”