Trump to Zelensky: Accept Peace Deal by Christmas

Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelensky that he has until Christmas to accept his deal to end the war with Russia.

The US president’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, delivered the warning in a two-hour-long phone call with the Ukrainian leader after their recent talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

In a separate, wide-ranging interview, Trump said Ukraine would eventually succumb to Russia if a deal was not signed.

Elsewhere, he also condemned European leaders as “weak” for failing to end the war, and accused them of presiding over a “decaying” continent, diminished by illegal migration and political correctness.

Ukrainian officials told The Telegraph that Washington was piling pressure on Kyiv to cede territory in exchange for undefined security guarantees.

Writing on social media on Tuesday night, Zelensky said he was working “very actively” with European allies to formulate a proposal to end the war.

He told reporters that he had asked officials to draw up plans to hold elections within 60 to 90 days under martial law. It comes after Trump suggested Kyiv was subverting democracy.

Ukrainian law currently forbids elections being held during martial law but Zelensky said they could take place, so long as the US and Europe provided security guarantees relating to the vote.

The Ukrainian president hopes to win over Trump with the counter-plan, after the US president said that Russia had the advantage in the conflict.

Trump: Zelensky is losing

Trump told Politico, a news website: “Russia has the upper hand, and they always did. They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger in that sense.

“I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the bravery and for the fighting and all of that.

“But you know, at some point, size will win, generally. And this is a massive size, when you take a look at the numbers, I mean, the numbers are just crazy.”

Asked what would happen if Zelensky rejected the latest US proposals, the president replied: “Well, he’s going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things. You know, when you’re losing, because he’s losing.”

Since his call with the president’s envoys, Zelensky has visited London, Brussels and Rome to shore up support from European allies.

On Monday, the Ukrainian president told reporters: “To be honest, the Americans are looking for a compromise today.”

The White House previously endorsed a 28-point plan that demanded Ukraine unilaterally withdraw from its eastern Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as the price to end the war.

Europe will support Ukraine ‘until they drop’

Last week, in a national security strategy document, the US claimed Europe was facing “civilisational erasure”.

The 33-page document also blamed Europe for standing in the way of Trump’s efforts to end the Ukraine-Russia war, and called for renewed US relations with Moscow.

During the Politico interview, Trump suggested that European leaders would continue their support for Ukraine’s armed resistance aimlessly “until they drop” or suffer a military defeat.

“I mean, look, then they should support it. Europe... I’m friendly with all of them. I mean, I like all of them. I have no real enemy,” Trump said.

“I’ve had a couple that I didn’t like over the years. I actually like the current crew. I like them a lot. I know them really well. Some are friends. Some are OK. I know the good leaders. I know the bad leaders. I know the smart ones. I know the stupid ones.

“You get some real stupid ones, too. But they’re not doing a good job. Europe is not doing a good job in many ways.”

Trump said European leaders “talk, but they don’t produce”. When asked whether he thought the Europeans were doing the right thing, he replied: “Well, they can’t be doing too right because look what’s happened.”

The US president added that Europe’s immigration policies had made the continent a “different place”.

“And if it keeps going the way it’s going, Europe will not be… in my opinion, many of those countries will not be viable countries any longer. Their immigration policy is a disaster,” he said, while singling out London under Sir Sadiq Khan’s leadership.

Trump said: “If you take a look at London, you have a mayor named Khan. He’s a horrible mayor. He’s an incompetent mayor, but he’s a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor.

“I think he’s done a terrible job. London’s a different place. I love London. I love London. And I hate to see it happen.”