Ukraine's Zelensky says Trump 'capable of stopping Putin'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview that President-elect Trump is "capable of stopping" Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he will be a key factor in the outcome of the war in Eastern Europe, which has been ongoing for nearly three years.

"Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing," Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainian TV that aired Thursday, according to Reuters.

"His qualities are indeed there," he added when discussing the incoming U.S. commander in chief. "He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this."

Zelensky has previously said that one of Kyiv's priorities is getting security assurances from allies, including having Ukraine join NATO and the European Union. The country was formally approved as an EU candidate in June 2022, months after Russia's invasion.

"Naturally, any security guarantees without the United States are weak security guarantees for Ukraine," the Ukrainian leader said in the interview.

Trump, who on the campaign trail said he could end the conflict in one day, has not released any proposal for ending the conflict but has said more recently he would not abandon Ukraine.

“I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon,” Trump said in an interview with Time magazine.

The president-elect has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Russia-Ukraine. In a report from earlier this year, Kellogg outlined that he would look to push both sides to the negotiating table. He would try to bring Russia in with threats to continue sending weapons to Ukraine and pledges to postpone Ukraine’s NATO membership while offering security guarantees to the war-torn country. To bring Ukraine to the table, he wrote that aid to Kyiv should be conditioned on the country’s willingness to participate in talks that could lead to peace.

Ukraine’s president said he is in favor of France's peacekeeping troops being present in Ukraine if the idea is part of a hypothetical peace deal with the Kremlin. But Zelensky emphasized the development should be a stepping stone for the country to join the international military alliance.

"We support this initiative, but France alone is not enough,” Zelensky said in the TV interview, according to Agence France-Presse. “We would not want it to be one or two countries if it comes to this initiative. It should definitely be on the way to NATO.”

With Russian troops making gains in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky stated his military goals are to at least stabilize the front this month as soldiers deal with exhaustion.

"They are putting pressure on our boys, who are exhausted and that is a fact,” he said. “We will do everything to at least stabilize the front in January.”

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