Russia and Ukraine Agree on Trump

Russia and Ukraine have reached a rare point of agreement during the 23-month-long war: neither side believes that former President Donald Trump could bring an end to the conflict.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine would have never happened under his presidency and has promised to bring the war to an end within "24 hours" if reelected in November. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Trump to Kyiv on two different occasions to deliver on his promise, although the Ukrainian leader has publicly doubted the former president's ability to find a peaceful end.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow agrees they have "no understanding of how" Trump could end the war, adding that they have had no contact with the former president about such negotiations.

"We have not had any contacts on this," Peskov said, according to a report from the Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign via email for comment.

Trump was first invited by Zelensky to visit Ukraine in November 2023. At the time, the former president said that the invitation was "inappropriate" given the Biden Administration's work with Ukraine.

Zelensky reiterated his invitation during an interview on the British broadcast Channel 4 News that aired last Friday, telling the former president, "If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come."

The Ukrainian leader also described Trump's words as "dangerous," adding that he anticipates the former president to "make decisions on his own without—I am not even talking about Russia—but without both sides, without us."

Trump's reelection chances have raised concerns about the future of the war in Ukraine and NATO's security in Eastern Europe—the former president has shown indifference to backing Kyiv in the war, and some of Trump's biggest allies in Congress have continued to block President Joe Biden's requests for additional Ukraine funding.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum last week, Zelesnky raised questions about what Trump plans to do if Russia is successful in Ukraine, given that many Western countries fear that Moscow would continue their aggression into neighboring NATO country members next.

"Putin will not stop," Zelensky said while speaking to the press. "So what will Donald Trump do in the United States after that? Because in that case, it means that Europe lost and lost the largest and most powerful army in Europe, because it lost Ukraine."