If you don’t want peace then fight, Trump says as Zelenskyy vows never to become a traitor

The US President said that he wants Ukraine to accept a new peace deal by Thanksgiving, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the deal was forcing his country to choose between its “dignity” and a “key partner.”

‘If you don’t want it, then just keep on fighting I guess’, was the raw Trump message to the Ukrainian leader, after telling his people ‘he will never betray them’, in a dramatic wintry address outside his office.

The White House wants Kyiv to sign off on a “framework” to end the war in Ukraine based upon the U.S.-crafted 28-point peace plan by Thursday, according to three U.S. officials.

Trump said in an interview on FOX Brian Kilmeade’s radio show that the deadline is “an appropriate time” adding that he has no plans to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia while the administration waits for a response to the peace proposal. The president also suggested that Ukraine would “lose in a short period of time.”

“They’re losing land,” Trump said about Ukraine.

At a gathering of reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump noted that the plan is “a way of getting peace” that needs to be approved by Zelenskyy. “He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” Trump said.

He further stressed, “Well, at some point he’s going to have to accept something. You know he hasn’t accepted. You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said you don’t have the cards.”

The U.S. communicated the Thursday deadline to the Ukrainian government, though the officials stressed this was more of a goal than a firm deadline.

Negotiations to end the conflict are expected to be quite complex and will take more than a week to hash out, these officials acknowledged.

On reports that the U.S. threatened to halt intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine if the deal is rejected, a senior administration official said: “It was strongly implied to the Ukrainians that the United States expects them to agree to a peace deal. Any changes will be decided upon by the president himself.”

“This is one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Zelenskyy told his people.

“Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest,” he added. “Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner, either the difficult 28 points, or a very difficult winter” Zelenskyy stressed, urging the nation to stay united during what he said would be “a very difficult, eventful” week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a more upbeat note, saying the plan could “form the basis of a final peace settlement,” though he added that it had not been discussed “substantively” with Russia.