Zelenskyy Explains Why Trump Is In Such A Hurry To End Ukraine War

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Donald Trump is determined to secure a peace deal to end the Ukraine war before the US midterm elections later this year.

The Ukrainian president previously claimed that the White House wants the conflict to draw to a close by June.

He has since warned that the US needs to put apply more pressure to Russia if it wants the war to end by summer.

Moscow is allegedly still deliberating over attending the next round of trilateral talks in Miami.

Trump started his second term in office last year by declaring that he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.

The conflict is now approaching its fourth anniversary at the end of this month, and Russia continues to drag its feet over negotiations.

The US president has continually blamed Ukraine for the delay, however.

He is desperate to get some kind of deal over the line, as soon as possible – even if that means rewarding Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Speaking to The Atlantic, Zelenskyy said the most “advantageous situation for Trump is to do this before the midterms” in November.

He added: “Yes, he wants there to be less deaths. But, if you and I are talking like adults, it’s just a victory for him, a political one.”

Zelenskyy also claimed ending the Russia-Ukraine war would be Trump’s “no.1 legacy”.

The Republican Party is expected to take a beating at the midterms.

However, the Ukrainian president continues to hold onto his red lines in the negotiating process – while trying to offer up something new to keep the US president on side.

Trump has repeated Kremlin claims that Zelenskyy is a “dictator” for staying in his post longer than his term, even though Ukrainian martial law imposed during wartime prohibits elections.

So Zelenskyy said Ukraine will hold elections once it has security guarantees in place and a ceasefire with Russia.

He said the idea of holding the election during the war came from Moscow because “they want to get rid of me”.

The Ukrainian president continued: “No one is clinging to power.

“I am ready for elections. But for that we need security, guarantees of security, a ceasefire.”

“We’ve never been against ending the war. It’s the Russians who have shown they are not ready for a dialogue,” he said.

Zelenskyy said Moscow should use this time before the midterms to “end the war while President Trump is really interested in that”.

The president also acknowledged elements of Trump’s peace deal – such as US security guarantees – have not been nailed down yet, and called for all of their terms to be “written out.”

It should then be put to the Ukrainian people in a public vote, according to Kyiv.

“I don’t think we should put a bad deal up for a referendum,” Zelenskyy added, noting that while Ukrainians are “in a hurry to end the war” they do not want to rush to cut a deal.

Zelenskyy will meet with prime minister Keir Starmer, US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and French president Emmanuel Macron at the annual Munich Security Conference, where peace in Ukraine is set to be discussed.

But Russia continues to hold onto its maximalist goals with Ukraine, insisting on taking more territory.