The newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, is fully capable of achieving peace in Ukraine, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, suggesting that Trump understands the necessity of containing Russia.
Zelensky made the comments in his New Year’s speech on Tuesday, emphasizing that “Ukraine is not alone” in its conflict with Russia, while also praising Ukraine’s Western allies, particularly the United States, for their continued support.
He recalled conversations he had with U.S. Presidents Joe Biden and Trump, noting that he “has no doubt that the new American president is ready and capable of achieving peace and ending Putin’s aggression.”
According to Zelensky, Trump “understands that the first [peace] is impossible without the second. Because this is not a street fight where both sides should be appeased,” calling the conflict “full-scale aggression by a mad state against a civilized one.”
“I believe that we, together with the United States, are capable of exercising that force. To compel Russia to a just peace,” he said, adding, however, that “a truly just peace cannot be based on the principle of ‘let’s start with a clean plan,'” due to the numerous casualties and widespread destruction caused by the conflict.
Trump had promised during his 2024 election campaign to bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine quickly, with reported peace plans from his team proposing a 20-year delay on Ukraine’s NATO membership aspirations, a freeze of the conflict, and the creation of a demilitarized zone patrolled by European peacekeepers to monitor a ceasefire.
