As Donald Trump is set to officially takes office as the 47th US president, many are wondering how he will tackle some of the biggest issues facing the world.
Mr Trump has previously made some bold claims about the war and held a highly publicised friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin since first taking office in 2017.
Keep reading to learn more about what Trump has said about ending the war in Ukraine and what Ukrainians think about him.
What has Donald Trump said about Ukraine?
One of the most talked-about moments from Mr Trump’s recent election campaign was his repeated claims that he could settle the war in Ukraine in the space of 24 hours.
“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done – I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” he said in May 2023.
Then, at an NRA rally in June, Mr Trump told the crowd: “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.”
In other speeches around the time, again, he promised to end the war even before winning the presidency.
Will Donald Trump actually end the war in Ukraine?
Now that Mr Trump is about to be sworn in as president, many are looking back at his claims that the war would be over by now.
Speaking to sources close to Ukraine’s government, NBC News has said that Mr Trump and his team are yet to present a peace proposal to Ukrainian officials.
It seems that, instead, members of his circle have begun to backtrack on his big promises. Keith Kellogg, who was picked by the president-elect as the US special envoy to Ukraine, has suggested a 100-day time limit to end the war instead. “Let’s set it at 100 days and move all the way back and figure a way we can do this in the near term to make sure that the solution is solid, it’s sustainable, and this war ends so that we can stop the carnage,” he told Fox News in December.
What is Donald Trump’s relationship with Zelensky and Putin?
Donald Trump has been pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin a number of times over the years
Reuters
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky was quick to congratulate the president-elect after he won the election in November. “I recall our great meeting with President Trump back in September, when we discussed in detail the Ukraine-U. strategic partnership, the Victory Plan, and ways to put an end to Russain aggression in Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
Mr Zelensky previously said he was certain the country’s war with Russia would “end sooner” once Mr Trump became president.
When the pair met in New York in September, Mr Trump insisted his relationship with Mr Zelensky was “very good’ despite a tumultuous past – which includes accusations that Mr Trump pressured president Mr Zelensky to unearth damaging information on then-president Mr Biden and his family in 2019.
When it comes to Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump’s relationship with the Russian leader goes back much longer. Russia famously interfered with the 2016 US election, which saw Mr Trump claim victory over Hillary Clinton, which the US intelligence community have said was ordered directly by Mr Putin.
Over the years, Mr Trump has praised Mr Putin on several occasions and, on January 10, said that a meeting is being arranged to discuss the war. “He wants to meet and we are setting it up,” he said at his Mar-a-Lago residence. “He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess.”
The new president says he will act as a mediator between the opposing leaders – however, how he’ll successfully do this remains to be seen.
What have Ukrainians said about the prospects of the war ending?
Student Liudmyla Parybus isn’t holding her breath for the incoming US president to end the war in Ukraine: “Why is everyone putting their hopes in Trump?
“I don’t put any hope in him,” the 20-year-old told Reuters in Kyiv city centre. “In the end, it depends on us.”
Her sense of scepticism is shared by many Ukrainians who have scant faith in Mr Trump’s promises to swiftly strike a peace deal after he enters the White House on Monday.
“Our fate is in our own hands,” said Marharyta Deputat, a 29-year-old sales manager. “We can’t rely on anyone else.”
Hanna Horbachova, 55, isn’t pinning her family’s future on a negotiated end to the conflict, which has ground on for almost three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The owner of a thriving bakery business was forced to flee her home in the Donetsk region a decade ago after fighting erupted between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed militias in eastern Ukraine and two internationally brokered peace deals subsequently collapsed.
While sceptical about the chances of a deal, she nonetheless believes the new American president has an outside chance to become a global peace icon if he delivers on his pledges.
“Trump has the opportunity to go down in history as a saviour of a huge nation,” Ms Horbachova said.
Indeed, not everyone dismisses the prospect of Mr Trump helping speed a ceasefire; following his election, more than a third of Ukrainians believe the war will end by the close of 2025, according to a poll of around 1,100 people by research company Gradus Research in December, up from about a quarter six months earlier.
The poll found that 31 per cent of respondents expected the war to go on “for years” and another 31 per cent said it was difficult to say.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, also said Mr Trump could cement his legacy by bringing peace and security to Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs to become a success story for Trump,” Mr Merezhko told Reuters. “He can enter history as a winner.”
