Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struck a hopeful tone on Thursday during a televised interview and said he believes President-elect Donald Trump could be “decisive” in ending the war as Kyiv stares down the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion. 

“Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” Zelenskyy said according to a Reuters report. “His qualities are indeed there. 

“He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin,” he added. “He is able to do this.”

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Zelenskyy said Trump assured him that Kyiv would be among his first presidential visits following his inauguration later this month as Ukraine looks to stabilize the front lines. 

Stopping Russian advances early in the new year is a top priority for Zelenskyy, who also reportedly claimed that Putin feared negotiations as it would be seen by the Kremlin chief as tantamount to a Russian defeat.

Despite nearly three full years of war, Russia has been unable to achieve not only its initial war aims, but even Putin’s amended plans, which he announced last year when he said his main goal is now to take all the Donbas – a region in eastern Ukraine encompassing much of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

However, it is not only Putin who views potential peace negotiations with apparent trepidation. 

Zelenskyy has said he welcomes peace talks, but he has also made it clear that any negotiations on ending the war will only be accepted if Ukraine is granted certain security guarantees – like the possibility of joining NATO.

Fellow soldiers carry the coffin of leading actor of the music and drama theatre Petro Velykiy, 48, who was killed in a battle with the Russian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, during a farewell ceremony in Chernyhiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

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“Naturally, any security guarantees without the United States are weak security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said, though he added that Washington must take into account Kyiv’s future security.

“It cannot be otherwise,” he added. “We are Ukraine, and it’s our independence, our land and our future.”

Putin, on the other hand, has said he will not accept any cease-fire negotiations that do not include guarantees that bar Kyiv from joining the 32-member body, which under Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty says an attack on one member will trigger an attack from all NATO nations and would effectively ensure a united strike on Moscow should it once again target Ukraine. 

A serviceman of the 24th Mechanized Brigade, named after King Danylo of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fires a 2s5 “Hyacinth-s” self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops at a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 18, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS )

Zelenskyy, who has led the country since 2019, was also asked if he would consider re-running for the presidency. 

The Ukrainian president reiterated that the nation cannot hold elections while in a state of war under the nation’s existing constitution but said he may consider it once the conflict has ended. 

“I don’t know how this war will end,” he said. “If I can do more than I am able, then I will probably view such a decision [seeking re-election] more positively. For now, this is not an objective for me.”

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Trump transition team for comment. 

A Palestinian writer, poet and journalist has been killed in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, according to his family, taking the total number of journalists killed in the Israel-Palestine conflict since October 7, 2023 to 220.

Mohammad Hijazi was among nearly 90 Palestinians slain in Israeli bombardment across the besieged territory in the last 24 hours, according to a Gaza Health Ministry statement on Sunday.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the Jabalia camp since Israel imposed a military siege of northern Gaza on October 5 and intensified bombardment, forcing thousands to flee. Israel has prevented even aid groups from supplying basic food items to the area.

“I don’t know if I will write to you again. I keep what I have written and am writing. Maybe it will come to light one day. I refuse a cheap death. I curse the murderer,” Hijazi wrote on Facebook in August of last year.

“Let us in this bottom that we have finally reached, arm ourselves with patience and prayer, and count the days we have lived as a historic achievement, while awaiting what is coming with a broken heart, an extinguished eye, a head held high, and a spirit that fights until the end of the road.”

It was not immediately clear whether Hijazi was working for a specific media organisation when he died.

Since the beginning of its war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 220 journalists and media workers, including Hijazi.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Sunday that at least 88 Palestinians had been killed and 208 others injured in the past 24 hours.

The latest fatalities bring the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza to at least 45,805 since October 2023, while an estimated 109,064 have been injured.

Among those killed in the latest Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday were three Palestinians who were living in a tent in Deir el-Balah, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from central Gaza.

A family of 15 people were also buried under the rubble in the northwest of Gaza City, following a separate strike, Mahmoud reported.

“The Palestinian Civil Defence is doing its best to remove bodies from under the rubble, but has only removed four of the family members,” he said.

“It’s estimated there are at least 15 family members under the three-storey building that was flattened to the ground.

“These repeated attacks – deliberate against families – continue to unfold, causing more tragedies among Palestinians.”

“I refuse to die cheaply… I curse the killer.”

This morning, writer and journalist Mohamed Hijazi, the author of these words, was killed by the Israeli army in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/LWsCak8IPr

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— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) January 5, 2025

In the last three days, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 people in Gaza, Mahmoud noted.

The last few remaining hospitals across Gaza are now overwhelmed, he added.

At the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, many people were left on the floor and others were waiting to be admitted into the operating theatre, Mahmoud said.

“By the time it’s their turn, it’s too late – they have already bled to death. [Many] burns are quite severe, and no pain medication is available at the hospital,” he said.

“There’s a silent death going on. In the past weeks, due to the ongoing attacks, people are dying quietly because of the lack of medical supplies.”

On Sunday, the Israeli military claimed that it had struck more than 100 “terror targets” in the Gaza Strip over the past two days. Several of the strikes targeted sites from which Palestinian fighters had been firing projectiles into Israel in recent days, the military said.

The latest violence in Gaza comes as indirect negotiations for a captive release deal resumed in Qatar.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged for months in efforts to strike a deal to end the war and secure the release of dozens of captives still held in Gaza.

Israel has detained more than 10,000 Palestinians since launching its devastating war, which has brought it global condemnation. Rights groups have termed Israel’s military offensive as a genocide, while the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations court, said in March 2024 that the Israeli operation “plausibly” amounted to genocide.

Seperately, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.