The president of Ukraine Volodymr Zelensky has said that the Ukrainian war ‘will end sooner’ following the election of President-elect Donald Trump.
President Zelensky and Trump spoke on the phone last week where he said the pair had a ‘constructive exchange’ following Trump’s landlslide victory in the recent US election.
The president-elect said throughout his election run that he would end the war ‘within 24 hours’, without detailing any plan to achieve this, raising concerns that he could push for a hasty ceasefire.
Speaking today, Zelensky claimed he would like to see the two-and-half year conflict come top end next year through ‘diplomatic means.’
During an interview with Ukrainian radio, he said: ‘For our part, we must do everything we can to ensure that this war ends next year. We have to end it by diplomatic means.
‘And this, I think, is very important.’
‘We have to understand what the Russians want,’ Zelensky said.
Referring to Ukraine, he said: ‘You are at war with a state that does not value its people, that has a lot of equipment, that does not care how many people die.’
President Zelensky and Trump spoke on the phone last week where he said the pair had a ‘constructive exchange’ following Trump’s landlside victory in the recent US election
Speaking today, Zelensky claimed he would like to see the two-and-half year conflict come top end next year through ‘diplomatic means’
Ukrainian rescuers carrying the body of a victim following a Russian airstrike in Kryvyi Rig
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will only accept talks with Ukraine if Kyiv surrenders Ukrainian territory that Moscow occupies.
Meanwhile, as leaders across Europe wait anxiously to see what direction the Trump administration might take, there are mounting concerns that Trump could push for a hasty ceasefire requiring Ukraine to cede significant portions of its territory – even as Kyiv’s European partners vow to back its armed forces for ‘as long as it takes’.
MailOnline examined what the once-and-future president’s ceasefire plan could entail.
Citing three sources ‘close to the president-elect’, the Wall Street Journal claimed Trump’s transition office is considering one proposal that would prevent Kyiv from joining NATO for at least 20 years in exchange for lucrative arms deals.
In the meantime, the conflict would be halted by the implementation of a large demilitarised zone (DMZ) that would effectively freeze the fighting in place and force Kyiv to relinquish up to 20% of its territory as part of an ‘800-mile DMZ’.
But the sources offered no insight into how such a buffer zone between Russia’s border and unoccupied Ukraine would be monitored or managed, other than to say it would not be staffed by American peacekeepers.
This suggests troops from other NATO nations, including the UK, would be tasked with manning the DMZ.
‘We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European… and we are not paying for it,’ one source was quoted as saying.
The president-elect said throughout his election run that he would end the war ‘within 24 hours’, without detailing any plan to achieve this, raising concerns that he could push for a hasty ceasefire
‘We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine… Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.’
The proposal draws comparisons with the DMZ that has divided North and South Korea since the armistice agreement that brought the Korean War to an end in 1953.
But the Russia-Ukraine conflict is vastly different, leading observers and analysts to warn that implementing a DMZ in Eastern Ukraine would face huge resistance.
Several obstacles must be circumvented before the conflict can be frozen and a ceasefire introduced – starting with the evident lack of enthusiasm from those expected to agree to and uphold the proposal.
Days before Trump secured his election victory, Volodymyr Zelensky openly declared that making any concessions to Putin would be ‘unacceptable for Ukraine’ and ‘suicidal for Europe’.
The Ukrainian President has made countless similar declarations since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
In addition, Zelensky’s foremost European partners Britain, France and Germany have already vowed to support Ukraine’s armed forces in their fight against Moscow’s troops ‘for as long as it takes’.
At the same time, concerns have been raised that any deal which requires Kyiv to relinquish territory to Putin could spark a new migrant crisis if millions of Ukrainians flee west.
Crowds of refugees from Mariupol make their way out of the Lviv train station on the eve of the war in 2022. Europe is currently hosting around six million Ukrainian refugees but these numbers could rise sharply if a peace deals involves the loss of land
Evacuees cross a destroyed bridge as they flee the city of Irpin in 2022. In a study released this month, leading think tank the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) estimates that between 9.4 and 19.1 million Ukrainians could seek refuge abroad should Putin’s forces gain the upper hand
Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump pictured at a meeting in Kremlin in July 2018
Europe is currently hosting around six million Ukrainian refugees – while some 250,000 are in the UK – but these numbers could rise sharply if a peace deals involves the loss of land.
In a study released this month, leading think tank the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) estimates that between 9.4 and 19.1 million Ukrainians could seek refuge abroad should Putin’s forces gain the upper hand.
‘The scale of this migration movement would be unprecedented in Europe since the end of the Second World War,’ the study states.
Moscow has made steady advances in eastern Ukraine since this summer, inching closer to key hubs such as Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
Zelensky said on Saturday that Russian forces were suffering heavy losses and that the advance had ‘slowed down’ in some areas.
This comes after Putin’s army faced it’s deadliest day yet in the conflict last week after Russia saw 1,770 soldiers killed or wounded in just 24 hours.