Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that if Donald Trump tries to force Kyiv into accepting a peace deal with Russia he would become a “loser” president and would risk sparking a Third World War.
While asserting that he has “no strategy yet” if former President Trump returns to the White House, Zelensky appeared to set out his opening negotiating position in case the presumptive Republican nominee and current frontrunner defeats 81-year-old Democrat President Joe Biden in November.
Speaking with Britain’s left-wing Guardian newspaper, Zelensky said of Trump’s desire to end the war: “Does he want to become a loser president? Do you understand what can happen?”
“This is not about him [Trump], as a person but about the institutions of the United States. They will become very weak. The US will not be the leader of the world any more. Yes, it will be powerful, first of all, in the domestic economy because it has a powerful economy without a doubt. But in terms of international influence, it will be equal to zero.”
Zelensky argued that if Washington is seen to appease Moscow, it would open up space for other authoritarian countries to model Putin’s approach and “come into the arena” of war, saying that this would result in “the beginning of what everyone is so afraid to talk about. This is reality. And this is the real third world war.”
The embattled leader went on to suggest that the Ukrainian people would also not accept any peace proposal which would cede the Eastern Donbas region or Crimea to Russia as a part of a peace deal, saying: “Ukrainians would not put up with that”.
His people would also not be forced into an “ultimatum” from Putin to give up on aspirations of joining the American-led NATO military alliance or seeking further European integration such as joining the EU, the Ukraine president argued.
Zelensky has long held that no direct negotiations for peace could be held with Moscow until Ukraine’s 1991 borders are restored and Russia withdraws its forces from the Donbas and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 under the Obama administration following what it claimed was a Western-backed coup against then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for attempting to maintain neutrality between the EU and Russia.
Yet rhetoric aside, the hard truth remains for now that Ukraine failed to retake any significant territory during last year’s ill-fated counteroffensive and is currently suffering under a new offensive by Putin’s forces.
Although President Trump has not publicly divulged his plan for peace negotiations between the two states but has claimed that if re-elected, he would be able to end the conflict within “24 hours”.
Following a meeting at Mar-a-Lago in Florida earlier this year, longtime ally Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asserted that Mr Trump would cut off aid to Kyiv — which is not only propping up the war effort but also much of civil society — in a bid to force Zelensky to the negotiating table.
“That is why the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own feet. If the Americans don’t give money and weapons and the Europeans don’t give them, then this war is over. And if the Americans don’t give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war, and then the war is over,” Orbán remarked in March.
The latest comments from Zelensky come as he is attempting to convince more world leaders to attend a “peace” conference in Switzerland, lobbying Asian leaders at the Singapore security forum to rally for his cause while casting blame on China for supporting the Russian war machine and standing in the way of peace talks.
In addition to castigating former President Trump, Zelensky also appeared to issue a rare reprimand of Joe Biden, saying that the White House’s decision to allow American-made missiles to attack targets in Russia did not go far enough because D.C. refused to allow Kyiv to use ATACMS missiles against sites within Russia’s borders.
“Is that sufficient? No. Why? Because I have given you the example of airfields from which Russia is permanently firing, in calm, knowing that Ukraine will not fire back because it has no corresponding systems and no permissions,” he said.
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