Trump has more recently relaxed his 24-hour ambitions, saying earlier this week that he hoped to have the conflict solved within “six months.” Keith Kellogg, his appointee for special envoy in the war, separately set the goal of “100 days.”
Still, this is a far remove the strategy of President Joe Biden, who has met Putin only once while in office, at a June 2021 summit in Geneva, otherwise describing him as “a killer” and a “dictator.”
Biden has overseen some $170 billion in aid for Ukraine, telling his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this summer that “we will be with Ukraine until they prevail in this war.”
Zelenskyy says he is grateful for this support, but he and other officials have complained that some of the military aid has been too slow and too little. Trump has suggested it is too much.
Zelenskyy acknowledged Thursday that a “new chapter” was about to begin under Trump, and urged Western allies “not to drop the ball” on supporting Ukraine as a bulwark against Moscow.
