Trump responds to Zelenskyy letter in marathon Congress speech

Donald Trump has said he “appreciates” President Zelenskyy’s renewed pledge to work with him on a peace deal – and that Russia has sent “strong signals” it’s also ready for a truce.

The US president made the comments during a marathon address to Congress in which he talked up his actions so far and set out priorities for the future.

“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in 4 years, 8 years – and we are just getting started,” the president said.

But it in a highly divided Congress, Democrats registered their dissent with stone faces, placards calling out “lies” and one member’s ejection.

Mr Trump said he’d received an “important letter” from the Ukrainian leader saying he would work under his leadership to reach a peace deal.

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Quotes he read matched a post by Mr Zelenskyy earlier on Tuesday in which he expressed regret for last week’s row and said he was ready to sign a minerals pact.

“The letter reads Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Mr Trump said.

“I appreciate that he sent this letter. Just got it a little while ago,” he added.

The president told a packed House chamber that Moscow had also indicated that they were ready for peace.

He said: “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

Longest speech

However, the majority of Mr Trump’s speech in the Capitol in Washington DC focussed on domestic issues.

At one hour and 39 minute, it was the longest annual address a president has delivered to Congress, breaking Bill Clinton’s record of one hour and 28 minutes.

Mr Trump lauded his nascent second stint in the White House and said he’d taken “unrelenting action” that had already achieved more than some administrations manage in years.

The president began his speech by proclaiming “America is back!” – prompting enthusiastic chants of “USA”.

Mr Trump said “the American Dream is surging – bigger and better than ever before”.

However, his remarks were met with jeers from Democrats and the House speaker called on the serjeant-at-arms to eject representative Al Green for refusing to stay quiet. Mr Green had stood up and shouted at Mr Trump, gesturing toward the president with his cane.

Other Democrats waved paddles with statements including “false” and “Musk steals”. Some wore blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine.

With vice president JD Vance sat behind him, Mr Trump reeled off a list of his actions since he started his second term in January.

Among others, he mentioned rolling back the Paris climate accords, removing the “tyranny” of diversity policies, leaving the World Health Organization and the naming of the ‘Gulf of America’.

“Our country will be woke no longer,” he declared.

There was also a special mention for Elon Musk’s government efficiency department, DOGE, which has controversially cut thousands of jobs already.

President Trump claimed the billionaire’s efforts were saving the country billions by cutting waste and fraud.

Mr Musk was there in person, unusually in a suit, and stood to acknowledge the applause from the mass of Republicans in the chamber.

“Thank you very much, we appreciate it,” Mr Trump told him.

The president also reaffirmed his commitment to tariffs after measures targeting Canada, China and Mexico took effect yesterday.

He said the US had been “ripped off for decades by every country on earth” and that tariffs were also about “protecting the soul of our country”.

The president has claimed previously they are in response to the three countries not doing enough to halt the flow of powerful drugs such as fentanyl.

In response, China’s US embassy tweeted ominously: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”

The president also said he would “make America affordable again” and that President Biden hadn’t done enough to control inflation.

“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control – and we are working hard to get it back down. A major focus of our fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing the cost of energy,” he added.

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Illegal immigration also took up a chunk of his record-breaking speech.

The president repeated his well-worn pledge to clamp down on people entering through the southern border and reverse what he called “insane open-border policies”.

To another burst of applause, he said he had designated some South America gangs as “terrorist” organisations.

Greenland and the Panama Canal also got a mention.

The president said America intended to reclaim the famous shipping passage – which it relinquished control over in 1999 – and repeated his ambition to own the vast Danish territory.

Addressing Greenlanders, he said: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”

“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” he said. “And we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it… and I think we’re going to get it, one way or the other.”

First lady Melania Trump watched the speech from on high in the gallery, with guests also including the family of the firefighter killed during the assassination attempt last summer, and a man recently freed from a Russian jail.

There was also a heart-warming moment where a child recovering from brain cancer was summoned to stand up.

Wearing a police uniform, 13-year-old DJ Daniel was lifted into the air in disbelief by his dad as President Trump told him: “I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service. Thank you, DJ.”