Zelensky: Trump Would Be a ‘Loser’ President if He Forces a Peace Deal Between Russia and UkraineKurt Zindulka 3 Jun 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that if Donald Trump tries to force Kyiv into accepting a peace deal with Russia he would become a “loser” president and would risk sparking a Third World War.
While asserting that he has “no strategy yet” if former President Trump returns to the White House, Zelensky appeared to set out his opening negotiating position in case the presumptive Republican nominee and current frontrunner defeats 81-year-old Democrat President Joe Biden in November.
Speaking with Britain’s left-wing Guardian newspaper, Zelensky said of Trump’s desire to end the war: “Does he want to become a loser president? Do you understand what can happen?”
“This is not about him [Trump], as a person but about the institutions of the United States. They will become very weak. The US will not be the leader of the world any more. Yes, it will be powerful, first of all, in the domestic economy because it has a powerful economy without a doubt. But in terms of international influence, it will be equal to zero.”
Zelensky argued that if Washington is seen to appease Moscow, it would open up space for other authoritarian countries to model Putin’s approach and “come into the arena” of war, saying that this would result in “the beginning of what everyone is so afraid to talk about. This is reality. And this is the real third world war.”
The embattled leader went on to suggest that the Ukrainian people would also not accept any peace proposal which would cede the Eastern Donbas region or Crimea to Russia as a part of a peace deal, saying: “Ukrainians would not put up with that”.
His people would also not be forced into an “ultimatum” from Putin to give up on aspirations of joining the American-led NATO military alliance or seeking further European integration such as joining the EU, the Ukraine president argued.
Zelensky has long held that no direct negotiations for peace could be held with Moscow until Ukraine’s 1991 borders are restored and Russia withdraws its forces from the Donbas and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 under the Obama administration following what it claimed was a Western-backed coup against then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for attempting to maintain neutrality between the EU and Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUry0TJYjoU&ab_channel=GuardianNewsmore
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/06/03/zelensky-trump-would-be-a-loser-president-if-he-forces-a-peace-deal-between-russia-and-ukraine/
