US President-elect Donald Trump is “strong and unpredictable” and these qualities could be a decisive factor in his political approach to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, Zelenskyy said it will not be possible to end almost three years of war in one day, as Trump claimed during his election campaign that he could do.
“The ‘hot’ phase of the war could end quite quickly, if Trump is strong in his position,” Zelenskyy said in a Ukrainian television interview late Thursday, referring to the fighting on the battlefield.
“I believe (Trump) is strong and unpredictable. I would very much like President Trump’s unpredictability to be directed primarily at the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has not publicly reflected on his policy on Ukraine, but his past comments have raised questions about whether the United States will continue to be the country’s largest and most important military backer. Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is keen to ensure Washington’s support keeps coming, and he met with Trump in New York even before last November’s US presidential election.
The trajectory of the war is not in favor of Ukraine
With the war entering its fourth year next month and Trump coming to power, the question of how and when Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II might end has come to the fore.
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine and last year capitalized on weaknesses in Ukraine’s defenses to slowly advance into eastern areas despite high troop and equipment losses.
The trajectory of the war is not in favor of Ukraine. The country is short-handed on the front line and needs continued support from its Western partners.
Trump responded favorably to the possibility raised by French President Emmanuel Macron of deploying Western peacekeepers to Ukraine to oversee a deal halting the fighting, Zelenskyy said. He met with Trump and Macron in Paris last month.
“But I raised an issue, saying that we did not hear which specific countries will join this initiative and whether the US will be there,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader is determined for his country to become a member of NATO. The alliance’s 32 member states say Ukraine will join one day, but not until the war is over.
“The deployment of European troops (to maintain peace in Ukraine) should not rule out Ukraine’s future in NATO,” Zelenskyy said in a televised interview.
Zelenskyy described the incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk border region as a “very strong card” in any future peace negotiations.
In an effort to counter the grim news from the front line, Ukraine seized part of Kursk last August in what was the first invasion of Russian territory since World War II.
But the incursion did not significantly change the dynamics of the war, and military analysts say Ukraine has lost about 40 percent of the land it initially captured.
However, Zelenskyy said the achievement impressed countries in Asia, South America and Africa and damaged Russia’s military reputation.
“The stabilization of the front was critical”
Zelenskyy also said he wanted to ensure that any US plan for a settlement took into account Ukraine’s views.
“It cannot be otherwise. We are Ukraine and it is our independence, our land and our future.” He also hoped the Trump administration could quickly establish contacts with Russia. Putin has said Moscow is open to talks, but they must take into account Russia’s achievements in the war and the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
With Russian forces capturing village after village on the eastern front in their fastest advance since the February 2022 invasion, Zelenskyy said stabilizing the front was critical.
“They are putting pressure on our boys, who are exhausted and that is a fact. We will do everything to at least stabilize the front in January,” he said.
Zelenskyy, elected in 2019, reiterated that new elections could not be held as long as a wartime state of emergency existed, but said he would consider running again once conditions permitted.
“I don’t know how this war will end. “If I can do more than I can, then maybe I will see such a decision (seeking a new mandate) more positively. At the moment that is not a goal for me.”
