Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted openly to Donald Trump’s announcement that he would quickly end the armed conflict in Ukraine if he were re-elected as US President. “Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, says that he is ready and willing to end the war in Ukraine,” Putin said in Kazakhstan on Thursday. “We take this quite seriously.”
Putin usually speaks of a “special military operation” in Ukraine. The Kremlin chief made the comments at a press conference at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana.
Putin added that he was “not familiar” with what concrete proposals Trump would make to resolve the Ukraine conflict. “That is, of course, the crucial question,” the Kremlin chief added. “But I have no doubt that he is speaking honestly and we support that.”
Last week, Trump said in a TV debate with US President Joe Biden that if he were elected US president, he would resolve the conflict in Ukraine before he took office in January 2025.
Putin has indicated several times that he is open to talks to end the conflict. Last month, however, he demanded a de facto surrender from Ukraine as a precondition for a ceasefire. He called on the neighboring country to withdraw its soldiers from the south and east of the country and thus vacate territory currently controlled by Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly rejected a temporary ceasefire. In his opinion, Russia would use such a break in the fighting to reorganize and rearm its army.
The government in Kiev is demanding that the Russian army withdraw completely from Ukraine, including from the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Moscow must also pay compensation for the destruction caused by the conflict.
The Russian army had recently made progress on the battlefield in Ukraine after a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year was largely unsuccessful.
