Kyiv will nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he sends Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine and helps broker a ceasefire with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday.“During our most recent meeting, I didn’t hear a ‘no.’ What I did hear was that work will continue at the technical level and that this possibility will be considered,” Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv about a meeting he held with the U.S. president on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York at the end of September.
“The plan for ending the war won’t be easy, but it is certainly the way forward. And if Trump gives the world — above all, the Ukrainian people — the chance for such a ceasefire, then yes, he should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Zelenskyy said. “We will nominate him on behalf of Ukraine.”
Trump has campaigned to receive the prestigious award, claiming he has ended seven wars and cold-calling Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg to ask about his bid.Zelenskyy also told reporters that Tomahawks, which can fly up to 1,500 kilometers and would allow Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia as far as Siberia, could strengthen Ukraine and “sober the Russians up a bit, bringing them to the negotiating table.”The Ukrainian president noted that Kyiv had asked for the long-range precision missiles during Biden’s term, but the request was rejected.Trump said on Monday that he had “sort of” made a decision on whether to send the missiles to Ukraine, but wanted to clarify how they would be used.“I sort of made a decision pretty much. I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them, where they’re sending them, I guess. I have to ask that question,” Trump said, adding that he does not want to see escalation.Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a briefing on Wednesday, warned against sending Tomahawks to Kyiv as that “would lead to a new serious stage of escalation in the Ukrainian crisis … but also cause irreparable damage to Russian-American relations.”
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