The war “will end faster” under the policies of Donald Trump’s administration, set to take office in January 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Nov. 15 interview with Suspilne.
Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election has introduced new uncertainty for Ukraine regarding future Western military aid as it continues to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“A just peace is very important for us so that there is no feeling that we have lost the best for the sake of injustice imposed on you (Ukrainians). The war will end, but there is no exact date,” Zelensky said.
“Certainly, with the policies of this team that will now lead the White House, the war will end faster. This is their approach, their promise to their society, and it is also very important to them.”
Zelensky noted that he and Trump had a “constructive interaction,” during which Ukraine presented its vision for peace. “He (Trump) heard the basis on which we stand. I did not hear anything contrary to our position,” Zelensky said.
When asked whether Trump had demanded Kyiv negotiate with Moscow, Zelensky emphasized Ukraine’s independence.
“During this war, both our people and I personally, in negotiations with the U.S. — with Trump, Biden, and European leaders — have shown that the rhetoric of ‘Sit down and listen’ does not work with us,” he said.
Trump, during a campaign event on Oct. 14, claimed to have “gotten along very well with (Vladimir) Putin” during his first term (2017–2021) and suggested that Putin had expressed ambitions to control Ukraine.
“It (Ukraine) was the apple of his eye; he used to talk about it. But I said, ‘You’re not going in,’ and he wasn’t going in,” Trump said.
Following his electoral victory, Trump allegedly warned Putin in a phone call not to escalate the war, though the Kremlin later denied that such a call had occurred.
U.S.-Russia relations have soured since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, rendering Putin a persona non grata in much of the Western world.
Sławomir Sierakowski