 "The Trump-Putin phone call could have a direct impact on the Zelenskyy meeting with Trump today. It is likely that the US president won't agree to supply Kyiv with Tomahawk missiles when the Ukrainian president meets Trump at the White House today (October 17). File image/Reuters")
US President Donald Trump on Friday urged Ukraine to accept his administration’s plan aimed at ending the war with Russia by ceding territory, saying his counterpart in Kyiv will “have to like it.”
“He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting,” Trump told reporters who asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s less-than-enthusiastic response to his plan.
“At some point he’s going to have to accept something,” Trump added during the Oval Office meeting with New York City’s future mayor Zohran Mamdani.
On Friday, Zelensky pushed back on the American plan, saying he would not “betray” his country over the 28-point document, seen in Kyiv as very favorable to the Kremlin.
The 79-year-old Republican has grown frustrated at not succeeding in ending the war triggered in February 2022 by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and is now seeking an acceleration.
Earlier Friday, Trump set a deadline of November 27 – the American Thanksgiving holiday – for Ukraine to accept his administration’s plan aimed at ending its war with Russia.
“I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well, you tend to extend the deadlines. But Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Radio.
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View AllUnder the plan, Ukraine would give up a swathe of eastern territory to Russia and slash the size of its army, according to a draft obtained by AFP.
Kyiv would also pledge never to join NATO, and would not get the Western peacekeepers they have called for, although European warplanes would be stationed in Poland.
Trump said that if fighting continued, the Ukrainians would still end up losing the territories they would have to cede to Russia under his peace plan.
“Say what you want, they were very brave,” he said about Ukrainian forces fighting the Russians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not looking for more war,” the Republican leader responded when asked about the possibility of Russia attacking other countries in Europe after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Trump also stated that Putin was “taking punishment” for the conflict going on for nearly four years now when, the US president added, it “was supposed to be a one-day war.”