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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a photo posted on X

Article (news)

Zelensky appeals to Trump after aid halt

Agence France-Presse

<div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABVAoGMkM41cfZ6f"></script></div><p>President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he wanted to &quot;make things right&quot; with Donald Trump and to work under the US president&#x27;s &quot;strong leadership&quot; to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.</p><p>In his first public comments since Trump halted US military aid to Ukraine, Zelensky called for a &quot;truce&quot; in the sea and sky as a first step to ending the three-year war and pledged to sign a key minerals deal with Washington.</p><p>A dramatic collapse in the Kyiv-Washington wartime alliance has played out publicly since an Oval Office clash between Zelensky and Trump last week, crescendoing with Ukraine&#x27;s top ally suspending crucial military aid.</p><p>&quot;My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump&#x27;s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,&quot; Zelensky wrote on X.</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:518px;height:369px;display:block;flex-grow:1" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1896948147085049916&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2024-11-03T16%3A47%3A15.482288%3A28030207-e43c-458a-a0c2-9a1da27b38d5%26action%3Dview&amp;sessionId=b9380115024941956ba6f9624d5bd28048549499&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" data-tweet-id="1896948147085049916"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>&quot;Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,&quot; the Ukrainian leader added. &quot;It is time to make things right.&quot;</p><p>Trump&#x27;s stunning decision Monday to halt aid to Ukraine deepened fears in Kyiv and many European capitals that America was pivoting away from its allies -- and towards Moscow.</p><p>Moscow hailed Trump&#x27;s decision, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it a &quot;solution which could really push the Kyiv regime to a peace process&quot;.</p><p>&quot;If the United States stops (military supplies), this would probably be the best contribution to peace,&quot; Peskov said.</p><p>The European Union, which -- along with Ukraine -- is excluded from US-Russian negotiations towards a potential truce in Ukraine, has been scrambling to bolster support for Kyiv.</p><p>The urgency heightened last week, when Trump and Zelensky clashed in the White House, with Trump warning his Ukrainian counterpart &quot;won&#x27;t be around very long&quot; without a ceasefire deal with Moscow.</p><p>European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday presented an EU plan to mobilise some 800 billion euros ($840 billion) for Europe&#x27;s defence.</p><p>The funding, she said, would &quot;massively step up&quot; support to Ukraine and provide it &quot;immediate military equipment&quot;.</p><p>The EU on Thursday is to hold an emergency summit aimed at cementing joint European support for Ukraine.</p><div><br/></div><p>- &#x27;Stab in the back&#x27; -</p><div><br/></div><p>Ordinary Ukrainians speaking to AFP were shocked at what they viewed as a betrayal by Trump.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s like a stab in the back,&quot; a 33-year-old financial assistant in Kyiv who gave only her first name, Sofia, told AFP.</p><p>Trump &quot;wants Ukraine&#x27;s surrender, the deaths of our people, the surrender of our territories,&quot; one army volunteer, Sergiy Sternenko, said on Telegram.</p><p>Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on X that &quot;we are discussing options with our European partners&quot; while &quot;not overlooking the possibility of negotiations with our American counterparts&quot;.</p><p>Poland&#x27;s government noted that America&#x27;s decision was made without consulting NATO allies, and the impact was already being seen at a weapons and aid logistics hub for Ukraine it hosts.</p><p>&quot;Reports coming in from the border, as well as from our hub... confirm the announcements made by the American side,&quot; Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.</p><p>French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told lawmakers in Paris that &quot;entire trains&quot; carrying US supplies for Ukraine &quot;are being stopped and prevented from reaching their destination&quot;.</p><p>He said that France would seek to rally &quot;all possible means&quot; to fill the aid gap left by the US decision.</p><p>The US pause impacts hundreds of millions of dollars of weaponry in the process of being sent to Ukraine, The New York Times reported.</p><div><br/></div><p>- EU summit -</p><div><br/></div><p>Last week, Zelensky visited Washington to sign the multi-billion-dollar minerals deal -- but ended up not doing so after his showdown with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.</p><p>Zelensky on Tuesday also said that Kyiv was ready to sign a deal giving the US preferential access to Ukraine&#x27;s natural resources and minerals at &quot;any time and in any convenient format&quot;.</p><p>Ukraine is seeking tough security guarantees for an end to the war.</p><p>With the United States opposing its bid to join NATO, Kyiv is turning to other, Western-backed measures.</p><p>After weekend crisis talks in London, Britain and France are investigating how to propose a one-month Ukraine-Russia truce -- potentially backstopped by troops on the ground.</p><p>Vance, in a Monday interview with Fox News, mocked the idea of &quot;some random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years&quot; sending soldiers to Ukraine. That prompted angry responses from French and British politicians.</p><p>On Tuesday, Vance noted on X he did not mention France or Britain, and said both those countries had &quot;fought bravely&quot; alongside the US over the past two decades.</p>

<p>President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he wanted to "make things right" with Donald Trump and to work under the US president's "strong leadership" to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.</p>

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he wanted to "make things right" with Donald Trump and to work under the US president's "strong leadership" to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.