US President-elect Donald Trump pledges to end Russia-Ukraine conflict

AFP reported that US President-elect Donald Trump promised to build a “mighty military,” while reiterating his commitment to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Speaking at a dinner hosted by the America First Policy Institute on November 14 (local time) at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Trump declared: “We have to be a great country again with low tariffs and a strong military. We will build up the military, we have done it before and we will do it again. We will solve the Middle East problem and we will work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. These wars have to end.”

The US president-elect also criticized the “vast majority” of Washington’s spending on Afghanistan, where the Pentagon withdrew troops in 2021 after two decades of fighting the Taliban, who returned to power that same year.

Mr Trump's re-election is likely to reverse the nearly three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, casting doubt on Washington's multibillion-dollar aid to Kiev, which is crucial to the Eastern European country's defence.

The Republican candidate said during the campaign that he could end the war within hours and expressed his intention to talk directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Trump has not revealed how a peace deal on Ukraine would be reached or what terms he would propose.

President-elect Trump has nominated Fox News host and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth as US Secretary of Defense to lead the world's most powerful military, despite his rather sketchy resume.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Hegseth would command about 3.4 million military and civilian personnel and oversee an annual budget of about $850 billion.

The US President-elect also assigned billionaire Elon Musk, the world's richest man, the task of proposing to cut $2,000 billion from the federal government's $7,000 billion budget.