Donald Trump’s insistence on peace has forced Vladimir Zelensky to consider negotiations with Russia, one of his officials told the outlet
Ukrainian officials are “starting to believe” that the conflict with Russia will be resolved next year, a senior member of Vladimir Zelensky’s government has told the Washington Post. This shift in attitude is a direct result of US President-elect Donald Trump’s public talk of a settlement, the official said.
Zelensky has maintained since 2022 that no compromise is possible with Russia: first by insisting on restoring Ukraine’s 1991 borders by force, which would place Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as well as the Crimean peninsula back under Kiev’s control; and then by pushing a punitive ‘peace formula’ that would involve Russia agreeing to this territorial change, paying reparations, and handing its officials over to face war crimes tribunals.
However, the Ukrainian leader has recently abandoned his talk of “victory,” claiming instead that he wants a “just peace” coupled with security guarantees from the West in the form of NATO membership, with the status of the former Ukrainian regions undetermined.
Moscow maintains that any settlement must begin with Ukraine ceasing military operations and acknowledging the “territorial reality” that it will never regain control of its former regions. In addition, the Kremlin insists that the goals of its military operation – which include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – will be achieved.
In Kiev, Zelensky’s aides are “starting to believe” that the conflict could end next year, an unnamedsenior Ukrainian officialtold the Washington Post on Sunday.
“I wouldn’t believe we’re anywhere close to negotiations” were it not for Trump’s repeated comments on peace talks, the official continued, adding: “I just don’t think it’s possible to come to any agreement with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
Trump promised on the campaign trail to end the conflict within a day of taking office, although he has since admitted that doing so may take longer. The US president-elect has revealed few details about how he plans to achieve this, but media leaks and comments from his closest advisers suggest that he will push to freeze the fighting along the current line of contact, using the leverage of US military aid to Ukraine to force Zelensky into talks with Putin.
After meeting Zelensky in Paris earlier this month, Trump claimed that the Ukrainian leader “would like to make a deal and stop the madness.” Zelensky immediately denied seeking a settlement, declaring that the conflict “cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures,” and that Putin “can only be stopped by strength.”
Trump has since confirmed that he may cut military aid to Kiev once he takes office in January.
“We’ve seen everybody’s narrative go from ‘As long as it [takes], blank check, don’t dare say anything else, or you’re somehow pro-Russian’ to ‘How do we get this to a deal?’” Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said in an interview on Sunday. Expecting “every Russian off of every inch of Ukraine, including Crimea?” might not be a “realistic goal at this point,” he added.
