Trump says Ukraine’s Zelensky should prepare to make deal to end war
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Trump said it would take a century to rebuild Ukrainian cities levelled by the Russian invasion.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PALM BEACH, Florida - US President-elect Donald Trump said Ukraine needs to reach a deal to end the Russian invasion and downplayed the value of occupied land, in the latest signal he may push for a settlement that codifies Russian territorial gains.
“He should be prepared to make a deal, that’s all,” Trump said of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while speaking on Dec 16 at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club. “Got to be a deal. Too many people being killed.”
Trump said it would take a century to rebuild Ukrainian cities levelled by the Russian invasion and brushed aside Ukrainian hopes of recapturing seized territory.
He again criticised the use of US weapons to strike targets deeper into Russian territory
“It’s nice to say they want their land back, but the cities are largely destroyed,” Trump said.
“You look at some of those cities, and not one building standing. So you know, when you say, ‘Take over the country’, take over what? Take over what? That’s a 110-year rebuild.”
The comments are the latest signal that Trump’s election will sharply curtail, if not end altogether, US aid for Ukraine.
Trump said several times on Dec 16 that he believes Russian leader Valdimir Putin wouldn’t have invaded if he were still in office and criticised President Joe Biden’s administration for a decision to allow Ukraine to use Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, to strike back deeper into Russian territory.
The missiles have a range of about 300km, or 190 miles.
“I don’t think they should have allowed missiles to be shot 200 miles into Russia,” he said.
The Biden administration reiterated its position that it’s up to Mr Zelensky to decide when and on what terms he’s willing to engage in talks.
“Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. We’re not going to have talks about them without them involved. We’re not going to force their hand in terms of what their next steps might be,” Mr John Kirby, a spokesman for Mr Biden’s National Security Council, said on Dec 16.
The administration began discussing allowing use of the ATACMS before the election, and the move was in response to North Korean troops being put on the battlefield, he said.
Trump also briefly discussed his meeting in December in Paris with Mr Zelensky.
He said in response to a question from a reporter that he didn’t invite Mr Zelensky to his inauguration, despite invitations to other world leaders.
“If he’d like to come, I’d like to have him. I didn’t invite him, no,” Trump said.
Trump said the war in Ukraine is “a nasty one” and said an “astronomical” number of soldiers are being killed on both sides.
“If I were president, that war would have never happened,” he said. BLOOMBERG
