The Washington Examiner’s Byron York argued that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “worried” former President Donald Trump will return to power, referencing Trump’s plan for peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Zelensky spoke at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, during which he made the case for the United States to not wait until November to provide aid to his country in its war against Russia. York, the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, explained that Zelensky’s plea not to wait until November stems from Trump’s plan to use aid as a negotiating tactic in creating peace between the warring nations.
“Well, he’s worried that Donald Trump will become president, and Trump has said he has a peace plan for Ukraine, and it’s pretty clear what the peace plan is, which is to pressure both Ukraine and Russia to negotiate,” York said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends. “Probably involve territorial concessions from Ukraine, something Zelensky doesn’t want. But clearly, Trump would use U.S. aid as leverage to force Ukraine to negotiate, so yeah, I think it’s clear Zelensky would like to get everything in the pipeline right now before Trump possibly became president.”
York also discussed how one of Trump’s appeals on the campaign trail is his relationships with all the world leaders involved in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He noted how Trump was able to establish these relationships in his first presidential term, and would “hit the ground running” if he returned to the White House in 2025.
Trump believes he would also be able to pressure Putin to stop attacking Ukraine, York noted. Whether he could succeed in doing this is up in the air, but York argued that Zelensky does not want Trump to have the chance to try.
The former president has stated on the campaign trail that he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, going as far as making this claim during his debate with President Joe Biden last month. He has also claimed that the billions of dollars in aid going to Ukraine was doing little good, adding that Kyiv is “not winning the war.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Biden announced a joint venture between the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Romania to provide Ukraine with five long-range air defense systems. They also plan to send Ukraine “dozens of tactical air defense systems.”
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a ceasefire in Ukraine and urged world leaders to push for talks between Moscow and Kyiv. He made this call during a visit Orban made to China after trips to Russia and Ukraine.