Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, December 9, he was grateful for Donald Trump's "strong resolve" to end the war in Ukraine after meeting the US president-elect in Paris last week.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted three-way talks with Zelensky and Trump at the Elysée Palace on Saturday, as fears grow in Kyiv about the level of support Ukraine will receive under the incoming US administration.
"The most important thing is to work together on how to end this war -- that is our top priority. During the meeting in Paris, this was exactly what we focused on," Zelensky said in a post early Tuesday on social media platform X.
"I reiterate my gratitude to President Macron for organizing it, as well as my deep gratitude to President Trump for his strong resolve to bring this war to a fair end," the Ukrainian leader added.
Trump has long claimed he will settle the nearly three-year conflict in "24 hours" once in power, raising alarm in Ukraine that it will be forced to make huge territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
On Sunday, the Republican called for an "immediate ceasefire," writing on his Truth Social platform that Zelensky was ready to "make a deal and stop the madness".
Zelensky also rejected calls to lower the draft age, following reports US officials want Ukraine to expand the pool of fighting-age men to include 18-year-olds.
"We must focus on equipping existing brigades and training personnel to use this equipment. We must not compensate the lack of equipment and training with the youth of soldiers," he said in the same post Tuesday.
'Irreversible' path
The possibilities of Ukraine joining the 32-nation NATO military alliance and of Western troops being stationed on its soil have been deeply divisive and contentious issues since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022.
At their summit in Washington in July, NATO declared Ukraine on an "irreversible" path to membership, but stopped short of inviting the country in. The United States and Germany have balked at Ukraine joining NATO while at war with Russia. One obstacle has been the view that Ukraine’s borders would need to be clearly demarcated before it could join so that there can be no mistaking where the alliance’s pact of mutual defense would come into effect. Russia’s invading army occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine.
Macron floated the idea of Western troops on the ground in Ukraine last February. But it raised the same fears of escalation that have led Western leaders to place limits on weapons supplies and permissions for their use.
European military heavyweights Germany and Poland immediately said they wouldn't send troops to Ukraine. Macron declined to provide details about which nations were considering sending troops, saying he preferred to maintain some "strategic ambiguity."
Ukraine’s forces are weathering a monthslong onslaught by Russia centered on the eastern Donetsk region, where Kyiv’s defenses are creaking. Zelensky said on X that over the past week alone, Russia launched nearly 500 powerful guided bombs, more than 400 attack drones and almost 20 missiles of various types against Ukraine.
"Ukraine wants this war to end more than anyone else. No doubt, a diplomatic resolution would save lives. We do seek it," he said.
Zelensky thanked Biden for the latest US military aid of nearly $1 billion. With doubts about whether Trump will keep up US military support, the Biden administration has been trying to spend every dollar remaining from a massive foreign aid bill passed earlier this year to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible.