Donald Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a day after meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Paris, claiming Kyiv “would like to make a deal” to end its war with Russia. “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” Trump said on Sunday in an online post. “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!” Trump added. Trump said both sides had suffered enormous losses in the war – which he claimed on the US election campaign trail he would be able to end “in 24 hours” if elected. “Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” he added.
Zelenskyy described his discussions with Trump, brought together by French President Emmanuel Macron, as “constructive” but gave no further details. Zelenskyy cautioned that Ukraine needs a “just and robust peace, that Russians will not destroy within a few years.” “When we talk about an effective peace with Russia, we must talk first of all about effective peace guarantees. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land,” he said Sunday in a post on the Telegram messaging app. Among Zelenskyy’s inner circle, there is an increasing awareness that, as the army struggles to hold back Russia on the frontline, some kind of negotiations will be necessary soon. But they fear that without solid security guarantees from the west, a ceasefire would be meaningless.
Like Joe Biden, president-elect Trump made a connection between the upheaval in Syria and Russia’s war in Ukraine, noting that allies of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are in a weakened state right now”. Trump has suggested that Assad’s ousting could advance the prospects for an end to fighting in Ukraine.
In an interview taped on Friday, Trump said that his incoming administration would be open to reducing aid to Ukraine, which the United States has been steadfastly backing since its invasion by Russia. “Possibly. Yeah, probably, sure,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press. Trump renewed his warning to Nato allies that he did not see continued US participation in the alliance as a given during his second term. Asked whether he would consider the possibility of pulling out of Nato, Trump indicated that was an open question. “If they’re paying their bills, and if I think they’re treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely I’d stay with Nato,” he said. But if not, he was asked if he would consider pulling the US out of the alliance. Trump responded, “Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.” He refused to say if he had spoken to Putin since winning election in November. “I don’t want to say anything about that, because I don’t want to do anything that could impede the negotiation,” Trump said. The interview was taped Friday and aired on Sunday, ahead of three-way talks with Macron and Zelenskyy over the weekend in Paris.
Hopes for victory, a swift end to the war and prayers for their loved ones’ survival or return from Russian captivity are among the wishes scattered throughout letters sent by Ukrainian children living in frontline areas to a volunteer group. Every winter the volunteers travel to heavily damaged cities to deliver gifts and ensure that, despite the war, Ukrainian children can celebrate the holiday season. Gift requests include power banks to help families endure outages, as well as bicycles, books and even pets. This year, the group received 2,310 letters, according to project manager Inna Achkasova from the NGO Ukrainian Frontiers, who launched the St. Nicholas’ Reindeers initiative in 2015.
