Desperate for peace, Ukraine embraces Trump – POLITICO

DAVOS, Switzerland — Only months ago, Kyiv was terrified a second Donald Trump presidency would force Ukraine to capitulate to Vladimir Putin. Today, it’s pinning its hopes on Trump finally ending three years of carnage.

Gathering in Davos this week for the annual World Economic Forum, Ukrainians and their backers see the newly inaugurated United States president as a circuit-breaker who could force Putin to the negotiating table and offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an off-ramp as well.

“It’s real optimism,” Kurt Volker, who served during Trump’s first term as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine, told POLITICO. “2024 felt like a year of waiting. We have elections, we have distractions, the Biden administration would say no, then they’d say yes … 2025 is looking like a year of action. We are finally moving.”