By Yuliia Dysa and Tom Balmforth
KYIV (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he was not aware of any details of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to end the Ukraine war quickly and he was convinced a rapid end would entail major concessions for Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leader told a news conference at the European Political Community summit in Budapest that he believed Trump wanted to end the war with Russia quickly, but that he had not discussed a plan with him.
“If it’s just fast, it means losses for Ukraine. I just don’t yet understand how this could be in any other way. Maybe we do not know something, do not see,” he said.
Trump’s election victory this week has escalated a sense of great uncertainty for Ukraine’s war effort at a perilous moment with Moscow’s troops making their most rapid advances in months and North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region.
Zelenskiy was among the first leaders to congratulate the president elect, who on the campaign trail criticised the scale of U.S. military and financial support for Kyiv and vowed to end the war quickly, without saying how.
The United States has been Kyiv’s most important ally in the war and Zelenskiy has pointedly praised Trump’s election victory in his statements. He spoke by telephone with the Republican late on Wednesday and described the conversation as “excellent”.
“I believe President Trump really wants a quick decision. Wants – it does not mean that it will happen. And I’m (talking) here without any reproach, I am just saying that we are where we are,” he told reporters.
In Russia, whose troops control around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to speak to Trump, as any ideas on facilitating an end to the Ukraine crisis merited attention.
Zelenskiy said: “We must be preparing for any decision. We want a fair end to the war. I am sure that the imminent end of the war means losses.”
CEASEFIRE FEARS
Zelenskiy used harsh language to oppose the idea of a ceasefire in the war without security guarantees being provided to Kyiv, something Ukraine says it needs to prevent Russia launching an even bigger offensive further down the line.
“It’s a very scary challenge for our citizens: first a ceasefire, then we’ll see. Who are you? Are your children dying?”
“A ceasefire is being proposed, for instance by a leader who is against having Ukraine in NATO. Imagine… this is nonsense and disharmony.”
The comment appeared directed at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the event’s host, who used the summit to repeat his call for a ceasefire in the war as a first step.
Similar calls had come from Brazil and China, Zelenskiy said, and essentially served Russia’s interest.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Alexandra Hudson and Sandra Maler)
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