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Serbian president skeptical about Trump’s plan to resolve Ukrainian conflict in 100 days

"If Trump indeed manages to resolve the conflict, he deserves a monument for saving the entire planet," Aleksandar Vucic said

BELGRADE, January 22. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic questions whether his US counterpart Donald Trump can resolve the Ukrainian conflict in 100 days, as he claims he will.

"I would like this to happen, but I’m not sure about how feasible this is. I’m skeptical of a strategy where you pressure both sides to make peace through a mix of actions against one and then the other. In the end, I fear that neither party will accept this. Both Russia and Ukraine are large countries, and they both have lost too much to give up so easily," Vucic told Serbian reporters on the sidelines of the Davos Forum.

The Serbian leader added that he planned to meet with Vladimir Zelensky later in the day.

"If Trump indeed manages [to resolve the conflict], he deserves a monument for saving the entire planet. So, I wish him success. Do I really think this is possible? Well, may God help us all," Vucic added.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has entrusted his special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg with the job of ending the Ukraine conflict in 100 days. According to the newspaper, "dealmaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be far more difficult than Trump promised on the campaign trail, when he said he would end the conflict before he took office."

In January 7 comments, Trump did not rule out that resolving the Ukraine issue could take more than 24 hours, a timeframe he had set during his election campaign. Keith Kellogg, the US president-elect’s special envoy for Ukraine, suggested that a 100-day deadline was realistic. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that the US could stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and reiterated his readiness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the US president also said that the US was likely to tighten sanctions on Russia if it refused to engage in peace talks.

Putin said earlier that Moscow was open to dialogue on the Ukraine conflict with the new US administration, with the priority being to address the root causes of the crisis. He confirmed that Russia was taking note of statements by Trump and his team members about their willingness to restore contact and the need to do everything possible to prevent World War III.