(Kyiv) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that the “unpredictability” of Donald Trump, who is due to take office on January 20 at the White House, can help end the war in Ukraine.
Posted at 5:02 p.m.
“Trump can be decisive […] in this war. He can help us stop [Vladimir] Poutine. He is very strong and unpredictable,” Mr. Zelensky said in a television interview, believing that the American president-elect “really wants to end the war.”
“I would really like this unpredictability of President Trump to apply to Russia,” he added.
PHOTO ROMAN PILIPEY, ARCHIVES AGENCE France-PRESSE
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian President
The arrival of Donald Trump at the White House raises hopes in Kyiv of strong decisions after almost three years of Russian invasion, but also the fear of a drop in American financial and military support, which the Republican criticized numerous times.
Mr. Zelensky has long refused to negotiate an end to the war with Vladimir Putin, but has recently softened his position, notably agreeing to temporarily give up trying to retake the territories conquered by Moscow, in exchange for security guarantees from NATO and of an increase in arms deliveries to Kyiv.
He said Thursday that any security guarantees to Ukraine not involving the United States would be “weak guarantees.”
While several European countries, including France, have put forward the idea of deploying a possible military contingent in Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement, Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that such an initiative should not replace his country’s membership in NATO.
“We wouldn’t want it to be just one or two countries for this initiative. This initiative absolutely must go in the direction of NATO. This does not mean that the deployment of European forces excludes a future within NATO,” he said.
Ukrainian forces have been in difficulty for months facing the Russian army on the Eastern Front and are retreating in several sectors.
Mr. Zelensky thus recognized that the situation is “really very difficult” and that the Ukrainian troops “are tired”, in particular because of a “lack of reserves and rotation” of troops.
