US President-elect Donald Trump said his priority would be to “resolve the Ukraine problem with Russia”, among the multiple crises underway in the world, in an interview with the French magazine Paris Match published on Wednesday.
“The priority is to resolve the Ukraine problem with Russia. These two countries are suffering incredible human losses. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are killed,” Donald Trump told the weekly on Saturday during his visit to Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
“There are a lot of crises in the world. In recent days, we have had news in Syria. They will have to fend for themselves because we are not involved there, and neither is France,” he added. “The Middle East is also a big priority, but I think it is a less difficult situation to manage than Ukraine and Russia,” he said.
Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, has long asserted that once in power, he would end the conflict which has lasted for almost three years in “24 hours”, raising concerns in Ukraine, which fears being pushed to make significant territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for peace.
On Saturday, for the first time since his election, Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris, under the auspices of Emmanuel Macron. The next day, he called for an “immediate ceasefire” and negotiations, writing on his Truth Social platform that Volodymyr Zelensky was ready to “make a deal and end this madness.” The Ukrainian president, for his part, expressed on Tuesday his “deep gratitude” to the Republican billionaire for “his strong determination” to end the war with Russia.
