President Zelensky has rubbished claims made by Donald Trump that he could stop Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “in 24 hours”, saying he already had the chance to do so when he was serving as president, yet didn’t.
Trump made the remarks during a largely nonsensical tirade at an event last month where he also said he “got along with Putin” and made bizarre comments about waves of Russian missile and drone attacks against Kyiv.
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When asked about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he said: “I want to stop that war, I don’t want that war to continue.
“And I’ll stop that war, mark my words, I’ll stop that war in 24 hours.”
Speaking to ABC’s “This Week” in a Sunday interview with Martha Raddatz, Zelensky responded: “It seems to me that the desire [by itself] to bring the war to an end is beautiful but this desire should be based on some real-life experience.
“Well, it looks as if Donald Trump had already these 24 hours once in his time,” said Zelensky.
“We were at war, not a full-scale war, but we were at war, and as I assume, he had that time at his disposal, but he must have had some other priorities.”
Putin started the war against Ukraine in 2014, with fighting ongoing throughout Trump’s time in the White House.
On the campaign trail in recent months Trump has repeatedly said he could end the war in a day if he were elected for a second term. He has not elaborated on how that would happen.
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Many analysts believe that he would simply propose that Ukraine freeze the current lines and cede Ukraine’s territories that Russia has already taken starting with Putin’s illegal seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and then expanded territorial takeovers into the Donbas region of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Russian forces captured further territory following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Ukrainian leadership has taken the firm stance that all its territory must be returned with all Russians retreating outside Ukraine’s internationally recognized boundaries established in 1991 when the country voted to exit the Soviet Union.
“If we are talking about ending the war at the cost of Ukraine, in other words, to make us give up our territories, well, I think, in this way, Biden could have brought it to an end even in five minutes, but we would not agree,” Zelensky said.
Trump’s dealings with both Zelensky and Putin would seem to indicate that he would propose just such a deal – one entirely unacceptable to Kyiv and desirable for Moscow.
While President, Trump temporarily withheld congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine in a “quid pro quo” attempt to get Zelensky to start an investigation into then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Trump’s attempts to blackmail Zelensky were recorded in phone conversations between the two leaders. The incident was the subject of Trump’s first impeachment in the US House of Representatives, though he was acquitted in the Senate along strict party lines with no evidence or arguments being heard in the trial.
Trump has had a much more friendly relationship with Putin, even to the point of calling Putin “a genius” for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine only a few days after Feb. 24, 2022.
Later in the interview, Raddatz asked Zelensky what he would say to Americans who say the US has already given enough aid to Ukraine.
Zelensky said that when they were given enough aid to win the war on Ukraine’s terms that would be “enough aid” and Ukraine would not need any more aid after that.
“When it comes to the word ‘enough,’ well, we, Ukrainians, are not people known for excessive appetites,” he said.
“Our victory is enough for us. Honestly, when we have enough for our victory, then it will be enough.”
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