US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pushed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to act to reach an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office, AP reports.
“Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” Trump wrote on social media, referring to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a television interview that aired Sunday, Trump also said he would be open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the United States out of NATO. Those are two threats that have alarmed Ukraine, NATO allies and many in the U.S. national security community.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he were actively working to end the nearly 3-year-old Ukraine war, Trump said, “I am.”
He refused to say if he had spoken to Putin since winning election in November. “I don’t want to say anything about that, because I don’t want to do anything that could impede the negotiation,” Trump said.
Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire went beyond the public policy stands taken by the Biden administration and Ukraine and drew a cautious response from Zelenskyy. It also marks Trump wading unusually deeply into efforts before his Jan. 20 inauguration to resolve one of the major global crises facing the lame-duck Biden administration.
