Zelensky Says Ukraine War Will End Once Trump Takes Power

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he believes President-elect Donald Trump “will be able to bring peace and end Putin’s aggression” once he takes office, according to Reuters.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump transition team and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for comment via email outside of business hours.

Why It Matters

Zelensky’s message that he believes Trump will be able to end the war and achieve peace is significant because he has previously clashed with the president-elect on his plan to end the conflict, and this signifies that he may be more amenable to negotiating with Russia.

What To Know

As Ukraine’s war with Russia approaches its fourth year in February, many hope Trump will follow through with his promise to end the war in his second term. The president-elect has said on numerous occasions that he would end the war “within 24 hours” and has nominated Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general, to serve as the special envoy to facilitate peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

In his video for the new year, Zelensky noted previous conversations with President Joe Biden and with Trump, saying, “I have no doubt that the new American president wants and will be able to bring peace and end [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s aggression.

“He understands that the former is impossible without the latter. Because this is not a street brawl where the two sides need to be pacified. This is a full-scale aggression by a deranged state against a civilized one. And I believe that, together with the United States, we are capable of the strength to force Russia into a just peace.”

Trump and his advisers have reportedly come up with a peace plan that would include freezing all conflict at the front line, implementing a demilitarized zone, and allowing both countries to retain the territory they have seized.

The president-elect’s peace plan would also involve delaying Kyiv’s ascension to NATO by 20 years and placing EU and U.K. peacekeepers in Ukraine.

Zelensky has previously voiced his discontent with Trump’s peace plan and his concern that pushing for peace too quickly would mean detrimental concessions for Kyiv, namely its independence. He also said that he believed Trump “really wants a quick decision” and that it could possibly result in the loss of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Russia has also said that it is unhappy with portions of Trump’s peace plan.

Despite both Russia and Ukraine’s issues with Trump’s peace plan proposal, Kellogg echoed the president-elect’s statements about concluding the war quickly and said that he believed the war would be “resolved in the next few months.”

What People Are Saying

In his video message, Zelensky said: “We know that peace will not be given to us as a gift, but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war, something each of us desires. If today Russia shakes your hand, it doesn’t mean that tomorrow the same hand will not start killing you, Russians fear those who are free. What they don’t understand. They fear freedom.”

“Every day in the coming year, I, and all of us, must fight so that Ukraine can be strong enough. Only such a Ukraine is respected and heard—both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”

What Happens Next

With Trump returning to the White House on January 20, it remains to be seen how quickly he tries to implement peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.