Zelensky says the war between Ukraine and Russia will ‘end faster’ with Trump as president

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is confident the war with Russia will “end faster” than it would have otherwise when Donald Trump becomes US president.

Zelensky said he had a “constructive exchange” with Trump during their phone conversation after his victory in the US presidential election.

He did not say whether Trump had made demands about possible talks with Russia, but said he had heard nothing from him that contradicted Ukraine’s position.

Trump has consistently said his priority is ending the war and ending what he says is a drain on American resources in the form of military aid to Ukraine.

“It is certain that the war will end faster with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne.

He added that Ukraine “must do everything for this war to end next year, end by diplomatic means”.

The situation on the battlefield is difficult, where Russian forces are making progress, Zelensky said.

He said US law only allows him to meet with Trump after his inauguration in January.

Trump and Zelensky have long had a tumultuous relationship. Trump was impeached in 2019 on charges that he pressured Zelensky to dig up damaging information about the Biden family.

Despite years of differences, Trump has insisted that he had a very good relationship with Zelensky.

When the pair met in New York in September, Trump said he “learned a lot” from the meeting and said he wanted the war “resolved very quickly.”

Trump has not yet announced how he intends to end the war.

His Democratic opponents have accused him of cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to a surrender to Ukraine that will endanger all of Europe.

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who spoke to Trump after his election victory, told German media that the incoming US leader had a “more nuanced” stance on the war than was commonly assumed.

Scholz told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that his call with Trump was “perhaps surprising, a very detailed and good conversation”.

Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives approved a $61bn (£49bn) package of military aid to Ukraine to help fight Russia’s invasion.

The US has been the largest arms supplier to Ukraine – between February 2022 and the end of June 2024, it supplied or committed arms and equipment worth $55.5 billion (£41.5 billion), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy , a German research organization.