Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a radio interview Friday that his country’s nearly three-year war with Russia “will end faster” with Republican president-elect Donald Trump in the White House.
Speaking to Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcasting company, Zelensky said that “with the policies of this team that will now lead the White House, the war will end faster,” according to translations of his comments. “This is their approach, it’s their promise to their society.”
Zelensky said that he is “personally in negotiations with the United States, and with Trump, and with [President Joe] Biden, and with European leaders.”
When asked if Trump has demanded that Ukraine negotiate with Russia, Zelensky emphasized that “we are an independent country.” He said that a “just peace” is important to Ukraine and while speaking with Trump “I have not heard anything against our position.”
As a presidential candidate, Trump’s team said that ending the war in Ukraine was top priority. Trump repeatedly said he could end the fighting in a day.
“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” he said during a CNN town hall in May 2023. He’s also said he intends to negotiate a “fair deal for everybody.”
But Trump has been unwilling to provide any details about what, exactly, that deal would include and how he would negotiate an end to the war. “I can’t give you those plans because if I give you those plans, I’m not going to be able to use them,” he said during the campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Zelensky said in September, ahead of a meeting with Trump, that Trump should “publicly share his idea now, not waste time, not lose people.” He added that if Trump’s alleged plan doesn’t include pushing Russian soldiers from all of Ukraine’s land, “he’s not presenting the global idea of peace.”
Some Trump allies will likely push for a deal that won’t be seen as a win for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president and dictator, while others will likely call for Ukraine to make significant concessions, including surrendering land to Russia and suspending its efforts to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Trump has said he knows both Zelensky and Putin well and has a “very good” relationship with the leaders.
Trump has been a harsh critic of Biden’s handling of the war and his willingness to provide Ukraine with weapons at no charge. During his debate with Biden in June, that if the U.S. had a president that was “respected by Putin … he would have never invaded Ukraine.”
Trump spoke with Putin on the phone in the days after his re-election this month and advised him not to escalate the war with Ukraine, according to the Washington Post.