Zelenskyy says Ukraine war will 'end sooner' with Trump as president

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the Ukraine war would “end sooner” in the upcoming Donald Trump presidency than it would have otherwise.

In an interview with Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, Zelenskyy said, “It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens.”

He asserted that the war would end but is exact date of that day is not known yet.

The Ukrainian president has been banking on US President-elect Trump to support the country in ceasing the war. Zelenskyy said that the two leaders had a “constructive exchange” during his telephone conversation with the Republican leader on November 5.

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“I didn’t hear anything that goes against our position,” he added.

What’s Trump’s position on the war?

Throughout the election campaign, Trump criticised the tens of billions of dollars in aid provided for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, and he promised he would resolve the conflict “in 24 hours”, without ever explaining how.

He has even blamed Zelenskyy and not Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting the war.

According to a report by NPR, many Ukrainians are apprehensive that the Trump administration would force the country to give up land occupied by Russia to end the war, an idea that was floated by Vice President-elect JD Vance.

However, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday, Trump said “We’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop.”

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Russia open to Ukraine peace talks

Russia is open to negotiations on an end to the Ukraine war if initiated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, but any talks need to be based on the realities of Russian advances, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva said earlier this week.

“Trump promised to settle the Ukrainian crisis overnight. OK, let him try. But we are realistic people of course we understand that this will never happen,” said Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

With inputs from agencies