Zelensky wants ‘enduring’ peace, Trump will ‘probably’ reduce Ukraine aid

US president-elect said Ukrainian president is keen to end the war after the pair met in Paris on Sunday to discuss future of the conflict

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From left, US president-elect Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Saturday. Photo: dpa

Published: 5:47pm, 8 Dec 2024Updated: 4:52am, 9 Dec 2024

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said Kyiv needed an “enduring” peace to protect it from Russia, after talks in Paris with US president-elect Donald Trump, who warned he would “probably” reduce aid to Ukraine.

Trump had earlier said Zelensky was keen for a “deal” and called for negotiations to start.

The pair met a day earlier with French leader Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.

Trump, in an interview broadcast on Sunday but recorded before the Saturday meeting, said his incoming administration would reduce aid to Ukraine, which Washington has been steadfastly backing since its invasion by Russia nearly three years ago.

“Possibly. Yeah, probably, sure,” Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press.

Ukrainian soldiers wounded on the front line in Donetsk on a medical bus in the Donetsk region, Ukraine on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Trump has boasted he could end the conflict swiftly without saying how. Moscow and Kyiv are readying for his arrival in the White House, with an escalation in deadly attacks in recent weeks in the drawn-out conflict.