Donald Trump has urged Vladimir Putin to reach an immediate settlement to end the war in Ukraine, saying it is the Russian president’s “time to act”.
The US president-elect wrote on social media on Sunday that Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine “would like to make a deal and stop the madness”.
Calling for an “immediate ceasefire”, he referred to his closeness to Mr Putin, adding: “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!”
In a wide-ranging interview – which also touched on his plans for deportations and January 6 pardons – on NBC’s Meet The Press, Sky News’ US partner, he said he is actively working to end the near three-year-old conflict.
Asked on NBC if Ukraine should prepare for possible cuts in US aid, he said “possibly”, and again warned the US could quit NATO if other member states don’t increase their contributions.
“If they’re paying their bills, and if I think they’re treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely I’d stay with NATO,” he added.
Asked if he would consider pulling the US out of the alliance if that wasn’t the case, he responded: “Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.”
He wouldn’t confirm if he had spoken to Russia’s leader since winning the election in November because he said he didn’t want “to do anything that could impede the negotiation”.
The former president’s call for an immediate ceasefire goes further than anything incumbent president Joe Biden has said.
It’s his clearest effort so far to resolve one of the world’s major crises before taking office on 20 January and contrasts with the Biden administration, which has made a point of not being seen to press Kyiv for an immediate truce.
Mr Trump’s latest intervention comes the day after he held talks with both the Ukraine president and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
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Trump and Zelenskyy hold meeting with Macron
Mr Zelenskyy described discussions as “constructive”, but warned in a post on Telegram that Ukraine needs a “just and robust peace, that Russians will not destroy within a few years”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow’s oft-stated position that it is open to talks with Ukraine.
Deportations and January 6
Domestically, Mr Trump redoubled his campaign pledge to oversee mass deportation of illegal immigrants, telling NBC there was “no choice”.
He said he will also move to end birthright citizenship – which is enshrined in the 14th amendment of the constitution – stripping rights from those born in the country to undocumented parents.
The programme, he said, will begin with undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes – although he did not reveal which ones – and then turn to “people outside of criminals”.
“I think you have to do it,” he said. “It’s a very tough thing to do… they came in illegally. You know, the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been in line for 10 years to come into the country.”
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Meanwhile, he said he is planning to pardon his supporters involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as soon as his first day in office, saying they were “living in hell”.
Mr Trump said there “may be some exceptions” to his pardons “if somebody was radical, crazy,” pointing to debunked claims that anti-Trump operatives infiltrated the crowd.
Source : Sky News
