UNITED NATIONS (AP) — donald trump said repeatedly that he could solve the problem war between Russia and Ukraine in one day if he is elected president again. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations says he can’t.
When asked to respond to the presumptive Republican nominee’s statement, Vassily Nebenzia told journalists on Monday that “the Ukrainian crisis cannot be resolved in a day.”
At a CNN hearing in May 2023, Trump said: “They are dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I will do it – I will do it in 24 hours.” He said this would happen after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Russian President. Vladimir Putin. And he continues to repeat the statement during the campaign.
During last week’s debate with President Joe Biden, Trump said: “If we had a real president, a president who knew – who was respected by Putin… he would never have invaded Ukraine.”
Nebenzia said the war could have ended in April 2022 in Istanbul, when Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to an agreement. Moscow invaded its neighbor two months earlier, on February 24, 2022, although Russia insists its “special military operation” began in 2014, after clashes in eastern Ukraine resulted in Moscow seizing the Crimean Peninsula.
The Russian ambassador blamed Ukraine’s Western supporters for blocking the April 2022 peace deal and telling Kiev to continue fighting Russia.
Now, he said, Zelenskyy “is walking around with his so-called peace plan which, of course, is not a peace plan but a joke.” During the meeting in Switzerland last month, almost 80 countries called for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine be the basis for any peace agreement that ends the war. But some major developing nations did not join and Russia did not participate in the conference.
Nebenzia pointed to Putin’s offer on June 14 “immediately” order a ceasefire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kiev begins to withdraw troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounce plans to join NATO.
Zelenskyy, who has promised not to give up any territory, rejected what he called Putin’s ultimatum to hand over more land.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Nebenzia’s comments.
Following the full-scale invasion of Russia, Ukrainian forces thwarted their advance on the capital. Much of the fighting has centered in southern and eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has illegally seized four regions, although it does not fully control any of them.
But Ukraine is still struggling to stabilize parts of its front line after desperately needed military help of the United States was delayed for months before being approved in April. And Russia took advantage of the shortage of Ukrainian weapons to launch an offensive and made gains.
Nebenzia called Zelenskyy’s peace formula “a failure” and said he needs to be “realistic” and take into account what has happened since April. The more difficult the situation becomes for Ukraine on the ground, he warned, the more difficult diplomacy to end the war will become.
