Zelensky maintains standoff with Trump after Christmas ultimatum

MoscowVolodymyr Zelensky does not appear willing to succumb to Donald Trump's ultimatum to accept his peace plan for Ukraine before Christmas. In recent hours, the Ukrainian leader has tried to shift the blame back to the United States and deflect pressure onto Vladimir Putin with two proposals: the holding of presidential elections in the midst of war If Washington guarantees its security and a truce on energy infrastructure. Russia doesn't want to hear about it, but the move is intended to convince the White House that, while Kyiv is willing to be flexible, Moscow only wants to continue the attacks.

Trump is impatient because he still hasn't received a response from Zelensky to the latest version of the agreement discussed by Ukrainian and American representatives at the end of last week. The Ukrainian president has insisted that they are working on the counterproposal, which they hope to deliver to the United States "in the near future," and that, in parallel, he held a conversation this Wednesday with Washington officials about the part of the plan that refers to the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. The Ukrainian president considers this to have been the first meeting of the group that will work on a document on the reconstruction and economic recovery of the country. Also present at the meeting were Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and the CEO of the investment fund BlackRock, Larry Fink. "There are many ideas that, with the right approach, could succeed in Ukraine," the Ukrainian leader wrote in X, where he insisted that it is the country's "overall security" that "will determine economic security and underpin a secure business environment." Zelensky, who maintains that "there will be no delays" on Ukraine's part, is aware that Trump is attacking him to pressure him into making a decision more quickly. However, instead of refuting his statements in the newspaper PoliticalIn a letter to the Ukrainian president, Trump accused Putin of "using the war to avoid holding elections." However, the Ukrainian leader has accepted the challenge and agreed to hold elections within two to three months. To this end, he has ordered the search for ways to change the legislation, as martial law currently prohibits it. This move is a futile effort. Firstly, because the condition he has set is that the United States and the European Union ensure the security of the election day. In practice, this means that Trump would have to force Putin to halt hostilities, at least during the voting. Furthermore, Almost no one in Ukraine wants elections in the midst of war. Neither the opposition nor the majority of citizens support it. Therefore, the real aim of the movement is to demonstrate that he is not an obstacle to either peace or the democratic functioning of the country, and to force the Kremlin to declare a ceasefire that would facilitate elections it has been demanding for years.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on this scenario, but did reject another initiative by Zelensky aimed at a similar objective: a truce in attacks on energy facilities. The Ukrainian president is reviving a US proposal that Putin distorted and unilaterally implemented in March, and which he therefore knows would have Trump's support. This is especially true at a time of extreme difficulty for Kyiv, which is facing long periods without electricity and sub-zero temperatures. However, according to the spokesman, Russia "is not working for a truce, but for peace," which makes it clear that he considers any debate about a temporary ceasefire to be over.

The Kremlin flatters Trump

From Moscow, they are convinced that they are in complete harmony with Washington. In an appearance before the Senate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov flattered the US president and repeated a mantra that no one at the White House denies: that Trump shares Putin's view on the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict: not admitting Ukraine to NATO and returning to power those who came to power as a result of the 2014 coup, that is, the Maidan uprising. Despite the Kremlin's secrecy regarding discussions with US envoys, the minister asserted that the US plan includes "guaranteeing the rights of national minorities" and "religious freedoms in what remains of Ukraine," two issues that are not central but are central. In Russian terms, this implies commitments from Kyiv to ensure the co-official status of the Russian language and to accept the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church. For all these reasons, he declared that Trump is "the only Western leader who "He cares about human rights."

European leaders talk to Trump

Moscow's strategy involves portraying Europe as responsible for continuing the war. Amidst the ongoing debate about security guarantees for Ukraine, Lavrov emphasized that they will respond to "any hostile move, including the deployment of European military contingents in Ukraine." The leaders of the so-called Coalition of Volunteers—French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz—spoke with Trump on Wednesday and will meet among themselves on Thursday to coordinate European contributions to the peace plan. Meanwhile, starting Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states are meeting in Lviv, in western Ukraine, to strengthen support for Kyiv and its EU accession process.