REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE Donald Trump has promised he will end the war in Ukraine after speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the phone overnight.

On a post to TruthSocial, the social media platform own by the former US President, Trump said that Zelenskyy and him had a “very good phone call”, where the Ukrainian President congratulated him on receiving the Republican nominee.

Zelenskyy, on X, formerly Twitter, said he welcomed the “vital bipartisan and bicameral American support” for Ukraine and added that the pair planned to have a personal meeting to discuss the steps to make peace in the country.

Trump said in his post that he would be the person to put an end to the war in Ukraine, which began after Russia illegally invaded the Eastern European country in February 2022.

Trump said: “Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”

He vowed he “will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families”.

The idea of ending the conflict through negotiations has been viewed as the unpopular option by many world leaders, including those in the EU, over fears that Ukraine would have to give up land in the eastern regions of the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded these regions in 2022, after a number of years of conflict between the Ukrainian Army and Russian-backed separatists, as he claimed the majority of the population viewed themselves as Russian.

But very quickly, at the beginning of the war, Russian forces moved to take control of Kyiv and other towns and cities in the west of Ukraine. So far, the front line of the conflict has barely moved since Ukrainian forces managed to fight off the first wave in March 2022.

As the war continues, and attacks on civilian infrastructure intensify and become more brutal, research suggests that the population away from the front line are beginning to favour peace talks.

According to a recent poll by the Razumkov Center, a Ukrainian think tank, 44% of Ukrainians in areas behind the frontline believe that it is time to start official talks between Kyiv and Moscow.

Though still a over a third (35%) of the population in these region believe that there is no reason to start peace talks. 

The idea of peace negotiations has been rejected by Zelenskyy in the past, but after a Peace Summit in Switzerland last month the Ukrainian President welcomed the idea of Russian representatives attending the next summit in November.

At the event, however, Zelenskyy and other world leaders said any peace deal should be agreed on the basis that Ukraine maintains it’s “territorial integrity”.

During the call between the Republican nominee and the Ukrainian President, Zelenskyy condemned the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last week and “wish him strength”.