Trump claims he can end Russia-Ukraine war in a day; Russia’s UN ambassador disagrees

Donald Trump has repetitively claimed that he could resolve the Russia-Ukraine war in one day if re-elected as president. However, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations disagrees, stating that Trumpcannot.

When asked to reply to the claims from Trump, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Monday (Jul1) that the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in aday.

“Russians and Ukrainians are dying and I want them to stop dying. I'll have that done in 24 hours," Trump stated.

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He mentioned that this would happen after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He continuedto repeat this claim on the campaign trail.

During last week’s debate with President Joe Biden, Trump claimed, “If we had a real president, a president that knew that was respected by Putin ... he would have never invaded Ukraine.”

While Nebenzia said the war could have ended in April 2022 in Istanbul when Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to an agreement. Moscow invaded its neighbour two months before, i.e. on Feb. 24, 2022, though Russia insists its “special military operation” began in 2014 after clashes in Ukraine’s east resulted in Moscow seizing the Crimea Peninsula.

The Russian ambassador further blamed Ukraine’s Western backers for blocking the April 2022 peace deal and telling Kyiv to keep fighting Russia.

“Zelensky is going around with his so-called peace plan which is not a peace plan but a gag,” Nebenzia said.

Nebenzia also highlighted Putin’s offer that was presented on June 14 to immediately order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv begins withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounces plans to join NATO.

Zelensky, who has vowed not to give up any territory, rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more land.

Nebenzia dismissed Zelenskyy’s peace formula as “a nonstarter” and urged him to be “realistic” and consider the events since April. He warned that as the situation on the ground becomes more challenging for Ukraine, diplomacy to end the war will become increasingly difficult.

(With inputs from agencies)