Briefing | Inaugural call

How will Donald Trump handle the war in Ukraine?

And how will Ukraine, Russia and Europe respond?

View of the snow-covered Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine
Photograph: Getty Images

“THEY’RE DYING, Russians and Ukrainians,” lamented Donald Trump last year. “I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done…in 24 hours.” In January Mr Trump returns to the White House. Can he put an end to the largest war in Europe since 1945? The odds are stacked against him. He will need to overcome Russian recalcitrance, Ukrainian indignation and European disunity. “It’s like Christopher Columbus trying to see over the ocean, thinking he is headed for India,” says Konstantin Gryshchenko, a former Ukrainian deputy prime minister and foreign secretary. The fear is that Mr Trump will push through a bad deal for appearances’ sake.

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