Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia on Monday refuted former President Trump’s frequent claim that he could end the war in Ukraine in a single day if he were elected to another term in the White House.
“The Ukrainian crisis cannot be resolved in a day”, Nebenzia he said at a press conference when asked about Trump’s promise to do so. “That’s objective.”
Trump has frequently touted his negotiating skills by suggesting he could negotiate an end to foreign crises, especially Russia’s war in Ukraine. He did not provide details about his plans, however.
“If it’s not resolved, I will resolve it within 24 hours with Zelensky and Putin,” Trump said last March, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“And there is a very easy negotiation to happen. But I don’t want to tell you what it is, because then I won’t be able to use that negotiation; this will never work. But it is a very easy negotiation to happen. I’ll have everything resolved within a day, peace between them. Now that’s a year and a half. That’s a long time. I can’t imagine something not happening,” Trump added.
At a CNN town hall two months later in May 2023, Trump made similar comments.
“They are dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I will do it – I will do it within 24 hours,” Trump said, adding that the resolution would come after he met for the first time with Zelensky and Putin.
Nebenzia, in response to the reporter on Monday, detailed some of the complexities of the negotiation process. He suggested there was an opportunity to end the fighting by April 2022, but blamed Western allies for blocking the deal. He also mocked last month’s conference in Switzerland, where 80 countries said Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” should be the basis for a peace deal.
Putin offered a ceasefire and the start of negotiations in June in exchange for Ukraine withdrawing from some of its own territories that Russia captured at the start of its invasion and abandoning plans to join NATO. Zelensky said giving up land is a failure.
A Trump spokesperson responded to Nebenzia’s comments in a statement to The Hill, saying, “President Trump is the most effective statesman and negotiator in history and will resolve this conflict when he is elected.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
