by The Associated Press – Sun, December 8th 2024 at 10:16 AM

President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Notre Dame Cathedral as France’s iconic cathedral is formally reopening its doors for the first time since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old landmark in 2019, Saturday Dec.7, 2024 in Paris ( Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

Trump and Zelensky’s social media posts after their important meeting in Paris.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, shortly after a meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders, claiming Kyiv “would like to make a deal” to end the more than 1,000-day war.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Moscow and Kyiv have both lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a war that “should never have started.”

President-elect Trump’s full social media statement:

https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1865658027178594788/photo/1

“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” he said, as he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to act to bring the fighting to an end.

Trump’s remarks came after a meeting Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that Zelenskyy later described as “constructive”.

Speaking to reporters later that day, Zelenskyy insisted that any peace deal “should be just” for Ukrainians, “so that Russia and Putin or any other aggressors will not have the opportunity to return.”

In a separate social media update Sunday, Zelenskyy asserted that Kyiv has so far lost 43,000 soldiers since Moscow’s all-out invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, while a further 370,000 have been wounded.

President Zelensky’s full statement on social media.

Yesterday, I visited President

@EmmanuelMacron at the Élysée Palace and had a good meeting with President

@realDonaldTrump.

We discussed important issues on the battlefield and in the global situation, from our frontlines to North Korea. I stated that we need a just and enduring peace—one that the Russians will not be able to destroy in a few years, as they have done repeatedly in the past. This is clear not only for our country and region. We see how Russia is now trying to subjugate Georgia after several wars against that country. Russia still does not want to ease its grip on Moldova. Now the Russians are retreating from Syria, but that does not mean they will not try to sow death there again. Russian military presence is also active in Africa, with the sole purpose of destabilization. Therefore, when we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first and foremost talk about effective guarantees for peace. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land, and it is Russia that most seeks to disrupt the possibility of peace. Updated data on Russian losses show over 750,000 casualties, including 198,000 killed and more than 550,000 wounded. Our people are defending their homes at the cost of their lives, and every life—of our soldiers and our civilians—is precious to us. Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action on the battlefield. There have been 370,000 cases of medical assistance for the wounded. It also needs to be mentioned that in our army approximately half of the soldiers wounded in action are later returning to the battlefield, and that our data also includes light or repeat injuries. One of the key distinctions between the Russian army and Ukraine’s Defense Forces is the level of frontline medicine, which is significantly higher in our forces. We are deeply grateful to everyone who supports its development, saves our wounded in action, and facilitates their rehabilitation. Since September this year, Russia has been losing troops on the battlefield at a ratio of 5-to-1, or even 6-to-1, compared to us. They want to seize more land before global pressure on them becomes unbearable. Additionally, we must not forget our people in Russian captivity—thousands of both military personnel and civilians, some of whom have been held since 2014, when the occupation began. Since February 24, 2022, we have already managed to bring 3,935 of our people home—3,767 soldiers and 168 civilians. But we must bring everyone back, and much work remains to be done. We must also establish the truth about all our people who are missing. We must also remember the Ukrainian children deported by Russia. Russians themselves admit that these abducted children number in the hundreds of thousands, dispersed across their territory. Returning them is the most challenging task. On the occupied territories of Ukraine, at least several million people remain. This is the reality of this war. It cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures. A ceasefire without guarantees can be reignited at any moment, as Putin has already done before. To ensure that Ukrainians no longer suffer losses, we must guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to occupation. We know Putin very well—he is addicted to war. He began his career with a brutal war against Chechnya and has been constantly fueling other wars. He can only be stopped by strength—the strength of world leaders who can become leaders of peace. We count on America and the entire world to help stop Putin. The only things he fears are America and global unity. It is precisely such peace through strength that we discuss with all our partners, as well as the steps and guarantees needed for the people and the state attacked by Russia. War cannot be endless—only peace must be permanent and reliable.

Both Russia and Ukraine have been reluctant to publish official casualty figures, but Western officials have said that the past few months of grinding positional warfare in eastern Ukraine have meant record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands killed and wounded each month.

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