Tue 02 July 2024:
Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day if re-elected as president. However, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, strongly disagrees, stating that Trump’s claims are unrealistic.
Nebenzia’s Response to Trump’s Claims
When asked to respond to Trump’s assertion, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Monday, July 1, that the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in a single day. “Russians and Ukrainians are dying and I want them to stop dying. I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” Trump stated, explaining that he would achieve this after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump reiterated this claim during his campaign trail and in last week’s debate with President Joe Biden, where he remarked, “If we had a real president, a president that knew that was respected by Putin … he would have never invaded Ukraine.”
The 2022 Peace Deal That Never Materialized
Nebenzia pointed out that the war could have ended in April 2022 during peace talks in Istanbul, where Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to an agreement. Moscow had invaded its neighbor two months prior, on February 24, 2022, though Russia maintains that its “special military operation” began in 2014 after clashes in Ukraine’s east led to Moscow seizing the Crimea Peninsula.
The Russian ambassador blamed Ukraine’s Western allies for blocking the April 2022 peace deal and encouraging Kyiv to continue fighting. “Zelensky is going around with his so-called peace plan which is not a peace plan but a gag,” Nebenzia said.
Current Proposals and Rejections
Nebenzia also highlighted Putin’s offer from 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 cede any territory, rejected what he described as an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more land.
Nebenzia dismissed Zelensky’s peace formula as “a nonstarter” and urged him to be “realistic” about the situation 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.
“Zelensky’s approach is not practical given the current realities,” Nebenzia stated. “The longer the conflict drags on, the harder it will be to reach a diplomatic solution.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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