Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he wants to work \u201cdirectly\u201d with US President-elect Donald Trump and is open to his ideas, highlighting Kyiv\u2019s eagerness to keep its most important ally onside as Russia intensifies its attacks. <\/p>\n
\u201cOf course we will work with Trump. I want to work with him directly,\u201d Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News released Friday, adding that he did not want people around Trump to \u201cdestroy\u201d their communication. \u201cI want to share with him ideas and I want to hear from him his ideas,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
The United States is the single largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine and Kyiv is keenly aware that it needs to stay on Trump\u2019s good side to secure future support. According to the US Department of State, the government has contributed $64.1 billion to Ukraine\u2019s war effort since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. <\/p>\n
Zelensky characterized his conversations with Trump during a visit to New York in September as \u201cwarm, good, constructive.\u201d He said the discussions were an \u201cimportant first step,\u201d but that more detailed talks would be needed \u201cuntil we will have a real plan where Ukraine is strong.\u201d <\/p>\n
Zelensky noted that his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, would travel to the US as soon as possible for meetings, including with Trump\u2019s pick to be special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg. <\/p>\n
Kellogg favors a ceasefire and peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, which would include security guarantees for Ukraine to protect against future Russian invasions. <\/p>\n
Zelensky told Sky News that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not ready to negotiate, however. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to stop the war,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The Ukrainian leader added that he would like Trump to succeed and for the US to \u201cplay one of the most crucial parts\u201d in ending the war. <\/p>\n
Prior to winning the election, Trump repeatedly claimed that the Russia-Ukraine war would not have started if he had been president. He also vowed to end the war, sometimes even claiming he would stop the years-long conflict before taking office. In July, he said he could settle the conflict in one day, without offering further details. <\/p>\n
Zelensky\u2019s comments come as the scale and severity of the conflict escalates, as Moscow makes increasing use of non-nuclear ballistic missiles. More than one million Ukrainian households were left without power Thursday following a widespread attack on critical energy infrastructure. <\/p>\n
On Friday, Putin threatened to strike Ukraine again. He also praised Trump, describing him as an \u201cintelligent and experienced\u201d politician capable of finding \u201csolutions.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the interview with Sky News, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine\u2019s US and European allies needed to better equip a greater number of its soldiers and provide more fighter jets. The country\u2019s eastern front, where Moscow is fast advancing, \u201cdepends on the number of equipped brigades\u201d and air defense, he added. <\/p>\n
He also addressed widely reported calls by US officials to drop Ukraine\u2019s minimum conscription age from 25 to 18 to address a critical shortage of manpower. \u201cI want to ask our partners to do their part of the job and we will do our part of the job,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Asked by Sky News whether Ukraine would consider ceding some territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership, Zelensky said that such a solution could in theory help to end the war but that it would run counter to Ukraine\u2019s constitution. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe invitation (to join NATO) must be given to Ukraine within its internationally recognized border. You can\u2019t give an invitation to just one part of the country\u2026 You have no right to recognize the occupied territory as territory of Russia,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Zelensky has long called for Ukraine\u2019s unconditional accession to NATO, but it is highly unlikely that the country will be admitted to the military alliance before the war ends. During the interview, Zelensky reiterated his position that NATO membership was currently the only path to victory. <\/p>\n
He admitted that he was afraid Ukraine might lose the war, and particularly the independence of its people. \u201cIf we will be alone, we will lose,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Maria Kostenko contributed to this report<\/em>. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he wants to work \u201cdirectly\u201d with US President-elect Donald Trump and is open to his ideas, highlighting Kyiv\u2019s eagerness to keep its most important ally onside as Russia intensifies its attacks. \u201cOf course we will work with Trump. I want to work with him directly,\u201d Zelensky said in an interview…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}