Former U.S. President Donald Trump said in a July 16 interview with Fox News that if re-elected president, he would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to reach a peace deal.
Trump is currently the most popular Republican candidate in the upcoming primaries for the 2024 presidential election, according to opinion polls. Up to 48% of respondents will support him in the primaries, while 22% will back Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a poll published by YouGov and The Economist from July 8-11 showed.
Trump said he would warn Putin that the United States would increase military support for Ukraine if a deal was not reached.
“I would say to Zelensky, no more. You have to make a deal. I would tell Putin that if you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him a lot. We will (give Ukraine) more than they have ever gotten if we have to,” Trump said, adding that “he will get the deal done in one day.”
Trump has repeatedly said he will end Russia’s war within 24 hours.
“Looks like Donald Trump has had those 24 hours once in a while. We were at war, not a full-scale war, but we were at war and like I guess he had that time on his hands, but he must have had other priorities,” Zelensky told ABC News on June 9. .
Zelensky presented Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan at a G20 summit in November 2022. The peace plan includes the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, the establishment of a Russian war crimes tribunal, the release of all prisoners of war and deported Ukrainians, and the prevention of ecocide.
Trump said in May that he would not commit to providing Ukraine with defense aid if it won the 2024 election.
“We donate so much equipment that we don’t have ammunition for ourselves right now,” Trump said May 11, as quoted by CNN.
He also declined to say who he thinks should win in the Russia-Ukraine war, adding that he wants “everyone to stop dying”.
Meanwhile, about 65% of American citizens want Washington to continue its military aid to Ukraine, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on June 28.