Czech Republic says Putin 'not serious' about peace

The Czech foreign minister on Saturday welcomed US President Donald Trump's efforts to bring an end to the ongoing war in Ukraine, however accused Russia of not being serious about peace.

In a post on the US social media platform X, Jan Lipavsky dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks on the conflict as "propaganda gibberish," stressing that "the problem is Russian imperialism, not the Ukrainian desire to live freely."

He cautioned that Moscow seeks to reverse Europe's security order to 1997, before the Czech Republic joined NATO.

"It is in our existential interest to prevent such scenarios," he wrote, adding that Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine show Putin is not serious about peace.

"If Putin was serious about peace negotiations, he would not have attacked Ukraine all day today," he said.

Trump and Putin were upbeat after their more than three-hour closed-door talks, with the Russian leader saying they had come to reach an "understanding."

After the meeting, Trump said that it is now up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders "to get it done."

"A lot of points were agreed on, there's not that much, you know, one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached," Trump said during a Fox News interview following his historic sit-down with Putin in Alaska.

"Now, it's really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it's up to President Zelenskyy," he added.