Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is challenging former President Donald Trump to share his ideas for how to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“If Trump knows how to finish this war, he should tell us today,” Zelensky told Bloomberg News in a July 3 interview.
The Ukrainian president issued his challenge as Trump seeks to retake the White House this year. Trump has repeatedly claimed he could have a ceasefire plan in place between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the Oval Office, and more recently claimed he could get a deal done during Biden’s lame-duck period if the incumbent loses reelection. Still, Trump has offered few specifics about how a potential peace plan would look.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forth an offer to pause the conflict along the current battle lines, with Russia keeping the territory it has captured so far, if Ukraine also commits not to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Zelenskyy rejected that offer.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also pressed for Zelenskyy to accept a ceasefire during a recent visit to Ukraine. Speaking with Bloomberg, Zelenskyy said such an idea “gives a clear advantage to one side” and said no one has offered clear specifics as to how this ceasefire would work.
“Nobody has an answer,” Zelenskyy told Bloomberg. “I’m not accusing, I’m just explaining.”
Zelenskyy went on to discuss the different stances of the two leading U.S. presidential candidates toward the war in Ukraine.
“If Trump knows how to end this war, he should tell us today, because if there are risks to Ukraine’s independence, if there are risks that we will lose the statehood, we want to be prepared for this,” the Ukrainian leader said. “We want to understand whether in November, we will have the powerful support of the U.S. or will be all alone.”
Trump and Biden faced questions about their plans for the war in Ukraine during their first presidential debate last week. CNN debate moderators asked Trump if he found Putin’s peace offer that allows Russia to keep the territory it has captured, to which Trump initially answered that he would’ve avoided the conflict altogether had he remained in the White House after the 2020 election. Trump further argued that Putin was emboldened to invade Ukraine by Biden’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The CNN moderators asked Trump a second time whether he felt Putin’s peace terms are acceptable.
“No, they’re not acceptable. No, they’re not acceptable,” Trump replied. “But look, this is a war that never should’ve started.”
Biden followed Trump’s remarks by asserting Putin is bent on reconstituting the “Soviet Empire.”
“He wants all of Ukraine. That’s what he wants. And then do you think he’ll stop there? Do you think he’ll stop when he – if he takes Ukraine? What do you think happens to Poland? What do you think of Belarus? What do you think happens to those NATO countries?” Biden said.
Belarus is not a NATO country and has been on friendly terms with Russia throughout the current war. Putin has denied he plans to march beyond Ukraine, into a direct conflict with a NATO member nation. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty entails a collective defense pact, whereby an attack on one NATO member could elicit a direct military response by the whole alliance.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
