Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview that President-elect Trump “has the ability” to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he is the key to ending the nearly three-year war in Eastern Europe.
“Trump is decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian television aired on Thursday. According to Reuters.
When talking about the next commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, he added, “He certainly has the qualifications.” “He can play a decisive role in this war. He can stop Putin. Or, to be more fair, he can help us stop Putin. I can do that.”
President Zelenskiy has previously said that one of Kiev's priorities is to obtain security guarantees from allies, including Ukraine's membership in NATO and the European Union. The country was officially recognized as an EU candidate in June 2022, months after the Russian invasion.
“Of course, security without the United States would be weak security for Ukraine,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview.
President Trump said on the campaign trail that he could end the conflict in a day, but he has not announced any proposals to end the conflict, and he recently said he had no intention of abandoning Ukraine. Ta.
“I want to reach a deal, but the only way to reach a deal is not to abandon it,” Trump said in an interview with Time magazine.
The president-elect has appointed retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Russia and Ukraine. In a report earlier this year, Kellogg outlined his aim to bring both sides to the negotiating table. He will try to win over Russia by threatening to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons and promising to delay Ukraine's NATO membership while providing security to the war-torn country. To bring Ukraine to the negotiating table, aid to Kiev should be conditional on the country's willingness to participate in talks that could lead to peace, he wrote.
Ukraine's president said he would support the presence of French peacekeepers in Ukraine if the initiative was part of a hypothetical peace agreement with the Kremlin. But Zelenskiy stressed that the development should serve as a stepping stone for the country to join international military alliances.
President Zelenskiy: “We support this initiative, but France alone is not enough'' said in a TV interviewreported France Presse. “We don't want to be just one or two countries when it comes to this effort. It should definitely be on the way to NATO.”
Russian forces are gaining strength in eastern Ukraine, and President Zelenskiy has said the military's goal is to at least stabilize the front this month as it deals with fatigue among soldiers.
“They are putting pressure on our players who are tired, that's true. We will do everything we can to stabilize the front at least in January,” he said.
