Trump's peace deal statements echo Ukraine's 2019 election rhetoric on Russia, says journalist Portnykov

He shared this view on Espreso TV.

"I was genuinely surprised that Ukraine became a topic in the Harris-Trump debate. I didn’t think it would even come up. This isn’t an issue that most American voters are deeply invested in. Though polling shows the Harris and Trump electorates do have differing opinions on it — not so much about whether or not to support Ukraine, but more on priorities. Harris voters tend to see freedom and democracy as core U.S. values. Trump’s base, on the other hand, believes the U.S. should focus on staying out of foreign conflicts. In this scenario, the Republicans are acting as the ‘peace party,’ while the Democrats are positioned as the ‘war party,’” Portnykov explained.

Portnykov pointed out that while Trump is leaning on populist rhetoric about Ukraine to woo voters, it’s ironic because many Ukrainians who backed a similar stance in 2019 now disapprove of Trump’s stance.

“This looks a lot like Ukraine’s 2019 elections. Back then, we also had a ‘war party’ and a ‘peace party.’ Zelenskyy was seen as the peace candidate, while Poroshenko represented the war stance. People genuinely believed that if Zelenskyy won, the war would end. Zelenskyy himself spoke about ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict in much the same way Trump does now. He said he would meet with Putin, look him in the eye, and bring peace. Trump, too, claims that Ukrainian authorities benefit from prolonging the war. It happens that your own shadow catches up with you. What we’re seeing in the U.S. election campaign now is something we already lived through in Ukraine in 2019. Trump is using similar rhetoric, and yet, Ukrainians who voted for a ‘peace candidate’ back then don’t seem to want Americans to do the same. Many Ukrainians who once voted for compromise, for talks with Putin, for the notion that their own government wanted to keep the war going, now don’t want Americans to vote with the same mindset,” he added.

• U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has declared himself the 47th president-elect of the United States.