All along, Trump has maintained that, should he be re-elected, he would mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours.”

Vladimir Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, expressed doubts about US Republican presidential contender Donald Trump’s promise to quickly settle the conflict with Russia, calling it a typical piece of campaign rhetoric that is unlikely to come to pass.

All along, Trump has maintained that, should he be re-elected, he would mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours.”

“Just finish it. Fine. In the presidential debate with Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris last week, he said, “Negotiate a deal.”

After refuting Trump’s claim that he was going to “just give up” on Ukraine, Harris detailed her own attempts to get Kiev’s military backing.

Zelensky, on the other hand, doesn’t seem persuaded, arguing that these kinds of pledges are just electioneering and have no actual foundation.

During a Sunday interview with CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” Zelensky downplayed what Trump had said.

“In my opinion, election messages and the election season are two different things. While Trump’s words “can make us, all our people nervous,” he added, “sometimes they are not very real.” However, a conversation with the former president two months ago left a totally different impression.

I spoke with Donald Trump on the phone, and he told me that he’s very supportive. It was a fantastic chat,” he remarked to the presenter, according to Politico.

Kiev and Moscow were on the verge of concluding a peace deal in Istanbul in April 2022, but an intervention by Ukraine’s Western backers interrupted the negotiations.

Since then, Kiev has made it clear that any negotiations should be predicated on Zelensky’s ten-point peace proposal, which demands that Russia give up any territory that Ukraine owned before 2014. Moscow has dismissed the concept as unrealistic.

Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance hinted last week that Trump’s possible peace plan will likely include securing Ukraine’s neutrality and establishing a demilitarised zone around the existing line of contact—ideas that are in line with Russia’s primary goals.

Even still, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed doubts about a speedy end to the conflict, stating that “whoever steps forward and says they could solve the Ukraine war in one day from the outside” should have their motivations for doing so investigated.

Citing war crimes committed during the assault in early August, Moscow has ruled out negotiations as long as Ukrainian forces are stationed in Russia’s Kursk Region.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, had previously threatened to impose an instant cease-fire on Ukraine if it gave up its aspirations to join NATO and its territorial claims.