UNITED NATIONS — Donald Trump has repeatedly said he could resolve the issue war between Russia and Ukraine one day if he is elected president again. The Russian ambassador to the United Nations says he can’t do that.
When asked to respond to the presumptive Republican nominee’s claim, Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Monday that “the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in one day.”
At a CNN town hall in May 2023, Trump said, “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’m going to have it done — I’m going to have it done within 24 hours.” He said that would happen after he meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he’s continued to make that claim during the campaign.
During last week’s debate with President Joe Biden, Trump claimed, “If we had had a real president, a president who knew — and who was respected by Putin … he would never have invaded Ukraine.”
Nebenzia said the war could have ended in Istanbul in April 2022 when Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to an agreement. Moscow invaded its neighbor two months earlier, on February 24, 2022, although Russia maintains 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 backers for blocking the April 2022 peace deal and told Kiev to continue the fight against Russia.
Now, he said, “Zelenskyy is running around with his so-called peace plan, which of course is not a peace plan, but a joke.” At a meeting in Switzerland last month, called for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine to form the basis for a peace agreement to end the war. However, some important developing countries did not participate and Russia did not attend the conference.
Nebenzia pointed to Putin’s offer on June 14 to “immediately” order a ceasefire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kiev begins withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and abandons plans to join NATO.
Zelensky, who had vowed not to give up any territory, rejected what he called an ultimatum from Putin to cede more land.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Nebenzia’s remarks.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces have thwarted their advance on the capital. Much of the fighting has taken place in southern and eastern Ukraine, where Moscow illegally seized four regions, though it does not fully control any of them.
But Ukraine is still struggling to stabilize parts of its frontline after urgently needed military aid from the United States was delayed for months before it was approved in April. And Russia took advantage of the Ukrainian arms shortage to to launch an offensive and made a profit.
Nebenzia called Zelensky’s peace formula “a non-starter” and said he should be “realistic” and take into account what happened since aprilThe more difficult the situation for Ukraine becomes on the ground, he warned, the harder it will be for diplomacy to end the war.
