
Donald Trump’s plan for a quick settlement in Ukraine must not only stop the war but also ensure that there can no longer be any more Russian aggression, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Zelenskyy said Ukraine wanted no repeat of the experience of peace accords and talks that failed to produce results in the years running up to Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion. And that, he said, meant putting security guarantees in place.
“A frozen conflict will lead to more aggression again and again. Who then will win prizes and go down in history as the victor? No one. It will be an absolute defeat for everyone, both for us, as is important, and for Trump,” Zelenskyy told Britain’s ITV. “If I had an understanding that America and Europe will not abandon us and they will support us and provide security guarantees, I would be ready for any format for talks,” he said.
The comments were broadcast as Trump indicated that he had been in contact with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and that progress was being made in its talks to end the war; that would mark the first officially acknowledged conversation between Putin and a US president since early 2022.