WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called for an immediate ceasefire in Russia’s war with Ukraine on Sunday and reiterated warnings that he was open to withdrawing the United States from NATO.
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Trump made his ceasefire proposal after a weekend meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders, stating in a social media post that Kiev "would like to make a deal" to end the more than 1,000-day war.
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The Kremlin responded that it was open to negotiations, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that any agreement would have to pave the way towards a lasting peace.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said that Russia and Ukraine have each lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a war that "should never have started."
"There must be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations must begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families are being destroyed," said Trump. He urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to act to end the fighting.
Trump's statements came after the Saturday meeting with Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron, which Zelenskyy described as "constructive."
In a Sunday post on the messaging app Telegram, Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine needs a "fair and robust peace, one that the Russians will not destroy in a few years."
"When we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first and foremost talk about effective guarantees of peace. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone. Russia brought war to our land," said Zelenskyy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Moscow's long-standing message that it is open to talks with Ukraine. He referred to a decree by Zelenskyy from October 2022 that formally declared any talks "impossible" as long as Putin was the Russian leader.
That decree was issued after Putin proclaimed that four occupied regions of Ukraine were part of Russia, in what Kiev and the West viewed as a clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, even though Moscow lacked complete military control over the areas.
During most of the war, Kiev's official position has been to demand the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from internationally recognized Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, as a condition for peace talks.
In a separate update on social media, Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv has lost 43,000 soldiers since Moscow's full invasion on February 24, 2022, while 370,000 have been injured.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been reluctant to publish official casualty figures. Western officials have said that the recent months of trench warfare in eastern Ukraine have resulted in record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands of dead and injured each month.
Trump has previously said that he would like to see a quick ceasefire in Ukraine. Sunday's proposal was more urgent, and the swift responses from Ukraine and Russia demonstrated the seriousness with which they considered the idea of the incoming US president.
The Biden administration and other supporters of Ukraine in the United States and abroad have emphasized not pressuring Ukraine for an immediate ceasefire. Ukraine's allies fear that a quick agreement would largely be on the terms of its more powerful neighbor, forcing harmful concessions for Ukraine and allowing Russia to resume the war once it has rebuilt its army.
Separately, Trump in an interview with NBC News that aired on Sunday renewed his warning to NATO allies that he did not see the continued participation of the United States in the Western military alliance as a given during his second term.
Trump has long criticized that European and Canadian governments in the mutual defense bloc are taking advantage of US military spending, by far the most powerful partner in NATO. NATO and its member governments say that most countries in the bloc are now meeting voluntary military spending targets, partly due to pressure from Trump in his first term.
Asked in the recorded interview on Friday if he would consider the possibility of withdrawing from NATO, Trump indicated that it was an open question.
"If they are paying their bills, and if I believe that they are treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely that I would stay with NATO," he said to "Meet the Press."
But if not, they asked him if he would consider withdrawing the United States from the alliance. Trump responded, “Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.”