Zelensky says Ukraine-Russia war will ‘end sooner’ with Trump as president

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is certain the war with Russia will “end sooner” than it otherwise would have once Donald Trump becomes US president.

Zelensky said he had a “constructive exchange” with Trump during their phone conversation after his victory in the US presidential election.

He did not say whether Trump had made any demands regarding possible talks with Russia, but said he’d not heard anything from him that was contrary to Ukraine’s position.

Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war – which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – and what he describes as a drain on US resources in the form of military aid to Kyiv.

Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives approved a $61bn (£49bn) military aid package.

The US has been the greatest supplier of arms to Ukraine. Between the start of the war and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed to send weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.

But domestically, support for arming Ukraine appears to have waned somewhat since the war began – particularly among Republican voters, who Trump successfully courted.

During the US election campaign, the former president turned president-elect repeatedly pledged to end the war “in a day” – but has yet to divulge how he intends to do so.

“It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne.

He added that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means”, with Russian forces making advances on the battlefield.

The front lines of the war have largely stagnated since Ukraine’s much-anticipated counter-offensive in 2023 failed to make the sweeping territorial gains it had aimed to.

Russian forces occupy entrenched positions in the east and south-east of the country, with fighting predominantly taking place in the eastern Donbas region.

On Friday, Russian forces made incremental advances along the eastern front line, with significant fighting taking place around the north-eastern city of Kupyansk and Vuhledar in the south-east, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington DC-based think tank.

Russian infantry also continued a “limited” offensive into the north-eastern Kharkiv region from the Russian border, the ISW said, citing Ukrainian military sources in the region.

In an apparent bid to stem the Russian advances, Ukrainian forces launched a break-out offensive into Russia’s Kursk region over the summer – becoming the first to occupy Russian territory since World War Two.

Zelensky has said the operation’s goal was to divert Russian troops away from the front lines in Ukraine, though it is unclear whether it has achieved this. Russia has been able to draw on hundreds of thousands of conscripts to bolster its ranks, while Ukraine’s much smaller army has relied on advanced Western-supplied weaponry.

But analysts say the territory Ukraine holds in Kursk may serve as a bargaining chip in any peace talks. Zelensky’s “victory plan”, revealed last month, said the offensive would continue to avoid the creation of “buffer zones” within Ukraine.

The renewed emphasis on a diplomatic solution comes amid concerns about growing fatigue over the war, both within Ukraine and abroad.

However, what such a solution may look like remains unclear – Zelensky has continually refused to cede any Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Trump and Zelensky have long had a tumultuous relationship. Trump was impeached in 2019 over accusations that he pressured Zelensky to dig up damaging information on the family of US President Joe Biden.

Despite years of differences, Trump has insisted he had a very good relationship with Zelensky.

When the pair met in New York in September, Trump said he “learned a lot” from the meeting and said he would get the war “resolved very quickly”.

His Democratic opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine that will endanger all of Europe.

Earlier this week, Russia denied reports that a call between Putin and Trump took place days after the latter’s election win, in which the president-elect is said to have warned against escalating the conflict further.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who spoke with Trump following the US election, told German media that the incoming US leader had a “more nuanced” position on the war than was commonly assumed.

The German leader was criticised by Zelensky over a phone call with Putin – the first in nearly two years – on Friday. Despite Scholz’s office saying he reiterated his call to end the war, Zelensky said it weakened the Russian leader’s isolation.