Donald Trump thanks Zelensky and insists Russia is ‘ready for peace’ in major speech

President Donald Trump claimed that Vladimir Putin has sent ‘clear signals’ he is ready to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine during a fiery and chaotic speech to Congress on Tuesday evening.

In his first address since returning to the White House, Trump revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had sent him a letter requesting adesire to return to the negotiating table.

‘I appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago,’ said Trump, indicating a thawing of realtions following the pair’s explosive argument in the Oval Office last week.

Reading it out loud to the House, he said: ‘We really do value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.’

The president said he ‘appreciated’ Zelensky’s response, and urged him to sign a deal which would allow the US to extract rare earth minerals from Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees.

Trump also claimed he had spoken to Russian officals, who had signalled their willingness to sign a peace deal.

‘Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace,’ he added.

‘Wouldn’t that be beautiful? It’s time to stop this madness.’

A Democratic lawmaker protested Trump’s address and was removed, and the US president went on to deliver the longest first address to a joint session of Congress in the country’s history, at one hour, 39 minutes and 32 seconds.

Trump boasted about his administration’s accomplishments and reiterated his goals, including acquiring Greenland ‘one way or the other’. It took 90 minutes for him to provide an update on Ukraine and peace negotiations.

At the start of his address on Tuesday night, he said that since he began his second term six weeks ago, there has been ‘nothing but swift and unrelenting actions to usher in the most successful and greatest era in our history’.

He said his administration has accomplished ‘more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years, eight years, and we are just getting started’.

Just minutes into Trump’s speech, Democratic Rep Al Green stood up and shouted at the president: ‘You have no mandate.’

Trump paused his speech as Republican lawmakers chanted ‘USA! USA!’ to try to drown out Green’s protest.

The chamber broke out in shouting and jeering between members of the two parties.

Green, who waved a walking stick in protest, was escorted out of the chamber a short time later.

Continuing his speech, Trump proclaimed that ‘our country will be woke no longer’.

‘We believe whether you’re a doctor, a lawyer or air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and confidence, not race or gender,’ he said to cheers.

‘You should be hired based on merit, and the Supreme Court in a brave and very powerful decision, has allowed us to do so.’

Trump also blamed former President Joe Biden for letting the egg prices get ‘out of control’.

The US president said of Greenland: ‘We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.’

He added that the US needs Greenland for national and international security.

‘We need it really for international world security, and I think we’re going to get it,’ he said.

‘One way or the other, we’re going to get it. We will keep you safe. We will make you rich.’

Trump also detailed his plans to ‘reclaim’ the Panama Canal.

The US president also invoked two towns that became controversial talking points of his 2024 campaign.

‘Beautiful towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like no one’s ever seen before. Beautiful towns, destroyed,’ he said.

Springfield was the center of baseless conspiracy theories that Haitian immigrants were eating residents’ cats and dogs, that Trump repeatedly pushed.

Meanwhile, Democrats invoked Trump’s Capitol Riot pardons as Trump touted his support to law enforcement, by shouting, ‘January 6th!’

Trump concluded his speech by saying that ‘the golden age of America has only just begun’.

Republican lawmakers chanted Trump’s famous words from surviving an assassination attempt – ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ – and pumped their hands just as he had.

Democratic lawmakers began filing out of the chamber even before Trump concluded his address.

Trump entered the House chamber just before 9.15pm.

First Lady Melania Trump, wearing a gray dress suit, entered shortly after 9pm, followed by her husband’s Cabinet members. Melania clapped and watched her husband as he greeted lawmakers and some supporters wearing MAGA hats.

His speech was to a joint session of Congress, but was not a State of the Union address that US presidents deliver annually to lawmakers typically in the first few months of the year.

Trump was expected to speak about what he has done since starting his second term a month-and-a-half ago, and what he plans to do over the next four years.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter in January invited Trump to address Congress on March 4 ‘to share your America First vision for our legislative future’.

Trump teased his address on Monday morning, posting on his Truth Social platform: ‘TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!’

The theme of his speech is Renewal of the American Dream. It included four sections: Trump’s accomplishments so far, what he has done for the economy, his push for Congress to provide more border security funds, and his plans for global peace.

‘President Trump has accomplished more in one month than any president in four years, and the renewal of the American Dream is well underway,’ said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding it ‘will be must-see TV’.

It came four days after Trump got into a shouting match with Zelensky in the Oval Office during a meeting that was supposed to end with the latter signing a rare mineral deals toward peace and ending the war with Russia.

As Zelensky continued to push for security guarantees from the US, Vice President JD Vance cast the Ukrainian president as ungrateful. Trump decided to end the meeting with Zelensky, who left without signing a deal.

Trump on Monday afternoon said Zelensky ‘should be more appreciative’ and criticized him for saying that he thinks the war will continue for a very long time.

By Monday night, a White House official stated that the US was ‘pausing and reviewing our aid (to Ukraine) to ensure that it is contributing to a solution’.

‘The President has been clear that he is focused on peace,’ stated the official. ‘We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well.’

On Tuesday, Zelensky did an about-face and said he ‘stands ready to work under Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts’. The Ukrainian president offered his country’s rare earth minerals for security guarantees and promised to ‘sign it in any time and any convenient format’.

‘None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,’ wrote Zelensky on X (formerly Twitter). ‘Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.’

Hours before his address, Trump reportedly told his advisers he wanted to announce the deal in his remarks, but that it had not yet been signed.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.