In his victorious speech on Wednesday, November 6, in Florida, Donald Trump first thanked “the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected the 47th president.” Then he promised that he would “end wars.” A statement considered worrying when seen from kyiv, where the army is already retreating, day after day, in the face of Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces.
If the Ukrainians are worried, it is because throughout his campaign, the Republican candidate and his running mate, JD Vance, expressed serious doubts about the continuation of the American commitment in kyiv, underlines the channel CNN. For months, Donald Trump has also been repeating that he could put pressure on Ukraine to sign a truce with Russia, and thus put an end to the war “in less than 24 hours”. JD Vance, the future vice-president, declared that he “doesn’t really care what will happen to Ukraine, one way or another”, relates The Guardian.
Negotiations with Moscow
And what worries the Ukrainians even more is that during the campaign, Donald Trump let slip bits of his “plan”, and it would not necessarily be in their favor. Some reports and statements from the billionaire’s close entourage have indicated that this could involve pressuring Ukraine to cede territories currently occupied by Russia, i.e. 20% of the national territory, or to give up its aspirations to NATO, recalls The kyiv Independent. However, this goes against the “victory plan” wanted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the most important points of which are an official invitation to join the Atlantic Alliance, as well as the strengthening of military aid.
Congratulating Donald Trump on his “impressive victory”, President Zelensky nevertheless said he hoped that this result would help Ukraine obtain “a just peace”. “I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘Peace through Strength’ approach to world affairs,” he wrote on X. He recalled their “great meeting” in New York in September and said the two men discussed “ways to end Russian aggression in Ukraine.” He praised Trump’s “decisive leadership” and cited “strong bipartisan support for Ukraine” in the United States.
Moscow has so far remained in the background in the face of Trump’s victory and his past declarations. “We have repeatedly stated that the United States can help end the conflict in Ukraine. This obviously cannot happen overnight,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that he was unaware of a possible plan by Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate the president-elect.
Aid budget cuts
Another worry for the Ukrainians is significant cuts in American aid provided to kyiv. CNN recalls that under the Biden administration, the United States provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, in the form of weapons and budgetary aid. The administration plans to continue providing as much support as possible to Kyiv before Donald Trump takes office.
However, under the mandate of Donald Trump, all this should dry up. The newspaper Politico recalls that the Republican Party blocked aid to Ukraine for more than nine months, from October 2023 to April 2024, forcing kyiv to reduce its war budget and leading to the loss of some of its most capable fighters. But if Donald Trump reduces this support, the American economy will suffer the consequences, writes The kyiv Independentas the US defense industry has received more than $50 billion in investment since the Russian invasion began.
In addition, the Republican has repeatedly claimed that he has good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he also claimed that he had told Vladimir Putin that the United States would bomb Moscow if he tried to attack Ukraine, the Politico website said.