Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged top US presidential contender, Donald Trump to share his peace plans publicly if the former US president has a way to end the war between Ukraine and Russia but cautioned that any peace plan where Ukraine gives up territory would be unacceptable.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has claimed that he would be able to cut a deal with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. Pressed Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" about whether the deal would let Putin keep the land he's taken, Trump said, "No, no. I'd make a fair deal for everybody. Nope, I'd make it fair."
Trump, asked at the time whether it would be a win for Putin, said, "You know, that's something that could have been negotiated. Because there were certain parts, Crimea and other parts of the country, that a lot of people expected could happen. You could have made a deal. So they could have made a deal where there's lesser territory right now than Russia's already taken, to be honest."
"He can publicly share his idea now, not waste time, not to lose people, and say, 'My formula is to stop the war and stop all this tragedy and stop Russian aggression,'" Zelensky told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, following his speech on Tuesday, September 19 at the United Nations General Assembly.
"And he said, how he sees it, how to push Russia from our land. Otherwise, he's not presenting the global idea of peace."
The Ukrainian president added: "So (if) the idea is how to take the part of our territory and to give Putin, that is not the peace formula."
Zelensky's trip to the United Nations comes as Ukraine is facing its stiffest challenges in the US to date over support for the war. A faction of the House GOP conference is openly hostile to providing Ukraine with any additional military aid.
In the interview, Zelensky gave a positive assessment of Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive, which has sparked concerns that it's failing to achieve expected results. And he reiterated Ukraine's desire to obtain long-range missiles from the US, which President Joe Biden is still considering, saying it would be "a loss" for Ukraine if they do not receive them.
"We are on the finishing line, I'm sure of that," Zelensky said.
Zelensky said that it was difficult for those who have not seen war up close to compare domestic problems like civil rights or energy to the existential threat facing a country under attack.
"It's so difficult to understand when you are in war, and when you are not in war," Zelensky said. "Even when you come to the war, to the country which is in war, when you come to one day, you can understand more than you live, you hear, you think, you read. No, you can't compare. It's different situation. That's why I'm thinking we can't compare these challenges."
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