In an interview with news website Politico, US President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was "losing" the Russia-Ukraine war. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump has warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy 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 wasn’t 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 is piling pressure on Kyiv to cede territory in exchange for undefined security guarantees.
Writing on social media on Tuesday night, Zelenskyy 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 during martial law within 60-90 days after Trump suggested Kyiv was subverting democracy.
Ukrainian law currently forbids elections being held during martial law but Zelenskyy said they could take place so long as the US and Europe provides security guarantees relating to the vote. Russia has been known to interfere in European elections.
The Ukrainian President hopes to win around Trump with the counter-plan, after the US President proclaimed that Russia had the “upper hand”.
“Russia has the upper hand, and they always did. They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger in that sense,” Trump told the Politico news website. “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 Zelenskyy 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 presidential envoys, Zelenskyy has visited London, Brussels and Rome to shore up support from European allies in the face of Trump’s pressure campaign.
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.
The Telegraph understands that Ukrainian negotiators have warned this would be unacceptable, but have not ruled out ceding territory as long as Russia is willing to make a “reciprocal” concession.
European officials believe that Kyiv is being forced into a decision between accepting unacceptable territorial demands and a US alliance it cannot afford to lose.
“The Ukrainian and European components have already been worked out in more detail, and we are ready to present them to our partners in America,” Zelenskyy wrote online on Tuesday night.
“Together with the American side, we expect to make the possible steps as effective and as quickly as possible.”
Ukrainian negotiators feel like they have not been offered sufficient details about potential security guarantees from Washington in order to make a decision over territory.
Kyiv has asked for any guarantee to resemble Nato’s Article 5 commitment, which would see the US come to its aid if Russia were to launch another invasion.
Instead of a presidential executive order, Ukraine is seeking an agreement that can be ratified by the Senate, like the US-South Korea defence pact, so it cannot be disregarded by future American presidents.
Meanwhile, Ukraine wants its European allies to sign up to agreements that set out future donations of weapons and finance the country’s burgeoning defence industry.
The Coalition of the Willing – led by Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron – will make up the third component of security guarantees, helping to police Ukraine’s skies and seas, while training its military inside the country.
Trump’s broadside against European nations will only add to the current tensions between the White House and the continent.
Last week, the US claimed Europe was facing “civilisational erasure” in a newly-published national security strategy document.
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.
Trump expressed belief that European leaders would continue their support for Ukraine’s armed resistance aimlessly “until they drop” or suffered a military defeat, in his Politico interview.
“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,” he 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 okay. 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” and, asked whether he thought the Europeans were doing the right thing, he added: “Well, they can’t be doing too right because look what’s happened.”
Continuing the attack, the US President said 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, singling out London under Sadiq Khan’s leadership.
“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.”
Trump said.“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.”
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