Donald Trump Jr has shared a mocking video warning Volodymyr Zelensky that he will ‘lose his allowance’ when his father returns to office, as fears mount in Ukraine over what a Trump presidency will mean for US support in the war against Russia.
This weekend saw the largest drone attacks by Russia and Ukraine since the war began, with the barrages impacting large swathes of each country and hundreds of drones downed, including in the Moscow region.
Russian air strikes have killed at least six people in southern Ukraine today, with missiles slamming into homes and most of the country under air raid alerts as bombers hovered above.
Strikes have intensified amid expectations that Trump will put pressure on both sides to end the conflict, after the president-elect repeatedly said throughout his campaign that he could end the war ‘in a day’, without saying how.
Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin following his election victory last week and advised him not to escalate the war, a source familiar with the conversation said last night, as President Joe Biden is expected to urge Trump not to abandon Kyiv.
The Republican and his supporters have roundly criticised the scale of US military and financial support for Kyiv, and he previously labelled Zelensky ‘the greatest salesman on Earth.’
The US has provided roughly $106 billion in aid directly to the government in Kyiv, a figure which includes military and financial aid as well as humanitarian support, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
On Saturday, Trump Jr shared a meme showing a solemn-looking Zelensky stood next to Trump as dollar bills fall around him, with the text on the clip reading: ‘POV: You’re 38 Days from losing you’re allowance.’
The clip was posted on Instagram by Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, and references January 20, the day Trump will return to the White House as the 47th President.
Trump Jr also said over the weekend that there is no place in his father’s administration for ‘war hawks’.
The 46-year-old also played a key role in his father’s election campaign and advocated for the selection of JD Vance as his vice-presidential pick.
Senator Vance told NBC last month that negotiation with Moscow is a ‘necessary part’ of ending the war, and has outlined plans that would allow Russia to keep territory it has seized in Ukraine.
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Vance argued against the provision of billions of dollars of aid to Kyiv by the Biden administration.
‘I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,’ Vance said at the time.
Trump and Vance will take office on January 20 after defeating Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in the presidential election.
Biden has invited Trump to come to the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said, with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan saying that they will discuss Ukraine.
Zelensky last week hailed an ‘excellent call’ with Trump after his election victory last week, saying they had agreed to ‘maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation.’
‘Strong and unwavering US leadership is vital for the world and for a just peace,” he added.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have stepped up their offensives as the war grinds on, with Ukraine saying today that Russia suffered a record number of daily losses – 1,770 over the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian figures suggest Russia has lost 710,660 troops in total since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Moscow is nevertheless pushing forward with its ‘meat assasults’, and has reportedly massed a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, as it prepares to launch an attack aimed at reclaiming territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region.
Putin’s forces have been gradually clawing back territory in Kursk over the past months, attacking Ukrainian positions with air strikes and artillery, but have so far not staged a major ground assault.
Overnight on Saturday into Sunday, Russia fired 145 drones at Ukraine, according to Zelensky, more than any previous single nighttime attack during the conflict.
Russia also said it had downed 34 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow on Sunday, the largest attempted attack on the capital since the start of the war in 2022.