Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected US president-elect Donald Trump’s plan for a speedy end to the war in Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly claimed he will be able to agree a peace deal with Russia within 24 hours of re-entering the White House.
That has led to fears that he will demand Ukraine give up territory already seized by Russia in exchange for an end to the bombing.
Speaking at a meeting of the European Political Community in Hungary, Ukrainian president Zelenskyy poured cold water on that suggestion.
“I believe that President Trump really wants a quick decision” Zelenskyy said. “He wants that. It doesn’t mean that it will happen this way.”
He added: “We all want to end this war, but a fair ending. If it is very fast, it’s going to be a loss for Ukraine.”
After Hungarian president Viktor Orban - a keen ally of Donald Trump - called for a rapid ceasefire in the war, Zelenskyy said: “I heard that it’s better to implement a ceasefire and then, ‘we’ll see’.
“[A] ceasefire was tried back in 2014. We tried to reach this ceasefire and we lost Crimea and then we had the full-scale invasion.”
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy also called for “a more decisive response from western countries” to North Korea’s decision to send troops to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.
And he once again repeated his appeal for Ukraine to be able to use UK-made long-range missiles to attack military targets in Russia.
During the meeting with @SecGenNATO Mark Rutte, I provided an update on the battlefield situation, specifically highlighting the involvement of North Korean troops in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. A more decisive response from Western countries to North Korea’s new role in…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 7, 2024