Ukrainian politicians remain cautiously optimistic that Donald Trump’s return to power won’t force a humiliating peace deal.
Ukrainian politicians are expressing tentative hopes that the return of Donald Trump to the White House will not necessarily lead to a rapid and humiliating forced peace. An initial 25-minute post-election call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, during which the president-elect handed the phone to Elon Musk, is said to have been positive in tone and no specifics of any peace proposals were discussed.
Zelenskyy also thanked Musk for making the Starlink satellite internet service available for use by his country’s military, which is a vital communications tool on the front line.
What does Trump’s commitment to ending wars mean for Ukraine?
Though Trump promised to “stop wars” in his first speech after his victory over Kamala Harris became apparent last week, there are no settled outlines of a peace plan yet, giving Kyiv breathing space to press its own case.
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian opposition MP, said:
“I don’t think that Trump’s victory is a catastrophe. Ukraine is now his business and if negotiations lead to a disaster it will be his, like Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. This is a person who loves to win.”
How did Trump’s call with Putin go?
Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin on the phone on Thursday and discussed the war in Ukraine, the Washington Post has reported. The US president-elect advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of
“Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe”,
according to the Post.
Ukrainians emphasize the complexity of negotiating with the Russian president, who they hope may overplay his hand with maximalist demands or irritate the notoriously prickly American leader.
“At some point, Trump has to present a plan to Putin and we will see if Putin wants to stick to it. From that moment there is a new reality,” Goncharenko said. “In the meantime, we have to work with the US and with US public opinion.”
Putin has already praised Trump’s courage for his defiant behaviour after surviving an assassination attempt in July, describing him as “a real man,” though Moscow has said its goals in invading Ukraine – once described as “demilitarisation and denazification” – remain unchanged.
