Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky, facing advances by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, said in an interview with Ukrainian television that Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.
Zelensky also said a priority was to stabilise the front line early in the new year. Putin, he said, feared negotiations as they would be tantamount to a defeat for Russia.
“Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” Zelensky said in a televised interview.
“His qualities are indeed there,” Zelensky said of Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this.”
Zelensky has said that achieving a just peace for Ukraine meant receiving solid security guarantees from its allies, joining the European Union and receiving an invitation to join the NATO alliance, a notion rejected by Moscow.
“Naturally, any security guarantees without the United States are weak security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said.
Zelensky said he wanted to ensure that any U.S. plan on a settlement took account of Ukraine’s views.
“It cannot be otherwise. We are Ukraine and it’s our independence, our land and our future.” He also hoped that Trump’s administration could establish quick contact with Russia. Putin has said Moscow is open to talks but they must take account of Russia’s gains in the war and its annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
With Russian forces capturing village after village on the eastern front in their fastest advance since the February 2022 invasion, Zelensky said stabilising the front was critical.
“They are putting pressure on our boys, who are exhausted and that is a fact. We will do everything to at least stabilise the front in January,” he said.
Zelensky, elected in 2019, repeated that new elections could not be held as long as a wartime state of emergency remained in place, but said he would consider running again once conditions permitted.
“I don’t know how this war will end,” he said. “If I can do more than I am able, then I will probably view such a decision (seeking a new term) more positively. For now this is not an objective for me.”