Zelenskyy Touts ‘Productive Conversation’ With President-Elect Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has had a “productive conversation” with President-elect Donald Trump, amid concerns Trump’s return to the White House would usher in a drop in U.S. support for Kyiv in its ongoing war with Russia.

During his 2024 presidential campaign trail, Trump repeatedly indicated he would move to quickly negotiate an end to the Russia–Ukraine war. He also raised the issue of how much the United States had committed to Ukraine compared to Zelenskyy’s other Western backers.

Trump’s campaign rhetoric has fueled some concerns in both Ukraine and NATO that he would dramatically reduce support for Ukraine.

In his remarks in Budapest on Thursday, Zelenskyy shared hope for continued U.S. support.

“We cannot yet know what his actions will be. But we do hope that America will become stronger. This is the kind of America that Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs, to my mind. This is the connection between allies that must be valued and cannot be lost,” he said.

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The Epoch Times reached out to the Trump campaign team for comment regarding his call with Zelenskyy. The campaign team did not respond by publication time.

In his Nov. 7 remarks in Budapest, Zelenskyy went on to denounce talk of making concessions with Russia to bring an end to the ongoing war.

“There should be no illusion that by showing weakness or selling out some European positions or any European country’s standing, one can buy just peace. It simply doesn’t work that way. Peace is the reward only for those strong,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy was among the first to congratulate Trump on Nov. 6 after he won the U.S. presidential election.

The Ukrainian president recently released details of his “victory plan” to force Russia to negotiate an end to the war on more favorable terms for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy shared his victory plan with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Trump in September. It remains to be seen to what extent the United States will support Zelenskyy’s plan.

The United States has appropriated about $175 billion in Ukraine-related financial and military support since February 2022, when Russian forces marched on Ukraine.

Congress appropriated about $61 billion of that total in April as part of a supplemental foreign aid package.

The Biden administration has gradually disbursed that supplemental appropriation in the months since.

Speaking with reporters on Nov. 7, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration is working to disburse as much of that funding for Ukraine as possible before the end of his term on Jan. 20.

Miller said the administration would also make efforts to prepare loans for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian sovereign assets.

“We are working to get all of it out of the door, all of the drawdown authority, out of the door to Ukraine before the end of this term,” Miller said.

“And when it comes to the sovereign assets, we have also made clear that we’re trying to operationalize that money as well before the end of the term.”