New Delhi: In just over a month’s time, US President-elect Donald Trump will be back at the White House for his second term.
Trump has already given ample indications of how his administration is going to function and act.
One of his repeated claims during the Presidential campaign ahead of the November election was that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been going on since February 2022, quickly.
Trump is talking about the war again.
He recently called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Russian and Ukrainian forces, and wanted talks to begin without delay.
“Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
That didn’t quite impress Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian President said Kyiv won’t accept any peace agreement without security guarantees.
The conflict with Russia cannot be ended with ‘just a piece of paper and a few signatures’.
“War should not be endless… peace should be permanent and reliable,” Zelensky stated in a post on Telegram.
Amid concerns that Trump could “probably” reduce aid to Ukraine, Zelensky met the US President-elect in Paris on Saturday, with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee.
In an interview aired on Sunday, which was recorded before the Saturday meeting, Trump said his administration would reduce aid to Ukraine – as opposed to the outgoing Joe Biden administration’s policy of consistently backing Kyiv since its invasion by Russia nearly three years ago.
“Possibly. Yeah, probably, sure,” Trump told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ programme. He reiterated that he could end the conflict swiftly, without saying how.
He also said he has good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky said Ukraine needs a just and enduring peace – “one that the Russians will not be able to destroy in a few years, as they have done repeatedly in the past.”
“Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land, and it is Russia that most seeks to disrupt the possibility of peace,” Zelensky added, calling on Western allies not to “turn a blind eye to occupation”.
