Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky urges Trump to keep supporting Kyiv amid clashes with North Korea troops
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has congratulated Donald Trump after he declared US election victory and urged the Republican to keep supporting Kyiv.
With concerns rising that support for Ukraine could diminish under a potential second Trump administration, Zelensky was optimistic about the future of US-Ukraine relations.
In a statement, he praised Trump’s “peace through strength” philosophy, calling it the kind of approach that could help bring about a just peace for Ukraine.
The presidential candidate previously pinned the blame for the conflict on Zelensky and Biden during an interview.
He has previously asserted that if he had still been in the White House, the war never would have started.
Meanwhile, Ukraine reported “small-scale” clashes with North Korean troops in Kursk, marking their first battlefield confrontation with Kim Jong-un’s soldiers, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said.
Zelensky has said “the first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world” as the war in Europe inches closer to its 1000-days mark.
The US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent by Pyongyang to the war under a pact with Moscow.
