"The fate of Ukraine depends on Trump," said the lawmaker, Oleksandr Merezhko. He said he spontaneously nominated Trump for the prize last month because of his promise to bring peace to Ukraine and his decision to sell the country anti-tank Javelin missiles during his first term. "We should appreciate what he's done for us. We should be thankful."
Since the election in November, Ukrainians have repeatedly tried to press their case with the president-elect, known for his skepticism about American support for Ukraine's war effort and even about Zelensky himself. Trump recently told the French magazine Paris Match that ending the war in Ukraine would be his main foreign policy priority after his inauguration next month. He has vowed to try to start peace talks as soon as taking office.
With his military losing ground in Ukraine's east, Zelensky's public messaging has shifted since Trump's election. He is portraying Ukraine as being open to negotiations that could involve concessions, including ceding Russian-occupied territory in the east and regaining it later through diplomacy. That is meant as a signal to Trump's foreign policy team that the Ukrainian leader is reasonable compared with the nuclear saber-rattling of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"They want to secure their place on the new U.S. administration's radar," said Alyona Getmanchuk, the head of a Kyiv-based think tank, New Europe Center. "They're trying to establish contacts, build bridges."
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has been Ukraine's biggest supplier of military aid, more than $62 billion worth, and Biden has been one of Ukraine's biggest defenders on the international stage. But Ukraine's war prospects are looking dim: Russia now occupies about 20% of the country and is pressing ahead relentlessly to capture more eastern territory. And Ukraine's recruitment system has not produced enough qualified new soldiers.
The Associated Press reported that Ukrainian drone strikes on southern Russia killed a 9-year-old boy and set fire to a major oil terminal, officials said Saturday, the day after Moscow launched a massive aerial attack. Russia's Defense Ministry on Saturday claimed its forces shot down 37 Ukrainian drones over the country's south and west the previous night.
During his campaign, Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours. He has not said how, but given his skepticism over aid to Ukraine, officials in Ukraine fear he will immediately cut off the flow of money and weapons and try to force a settlement on terms favorable to Russia.
A hint at how Trump might proceed comes from Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser whom the president-elect has nominated to be special envoy to Ukraine and Russia. In a research paper published by a pro-Trump think tank in April, Kellogg proposed peace talks between Ukraine and Russia with major consequences: If Ukraine did not participate, U.S. aid would be cut off. If Russia did not participate, Ukraine would get more U.S. aid.
Trump has had a tricky relationship with Zelensky -- the first phone call between them in 2019, in which Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden, led to Trump's first impeachment. Their second phone call didn't happen until last July.
Trump has also spoken favorably about Putin and said he wants to establish a positive relationship with him.
Zelensky's team is betting that Putin isn't ready to negotiate in good faith, despite claims by aides that Putin is open to peace talks, analysts said.
"They're trying to explain to Trump and his people that if there is someone who doesn't want to negotiate now, it's Putin, not Zelensky," Getmanchuk said. "Part of the Ukrainian tactic is to show that they're constructive, realist."
Ukrainian officials and business people have also tried to appeal to Trump's transactional approach, saying the country is rich in natural resources that could support U.S. industries Trump wants to boost.
Ukraine has deposits of 20 critical minerals, such as cobalt and graphite, with reserves valued up to $11.5 trillion, according to Horizon Capital, Ukraine's leading private equity firm. The country is home to a third of Europe's proven lithium reserves, a key material for rechargeable batteries that could be of interest to the electric car business of Elon Musk, a Trump ally.
Ukraine had planned to sign an agreement to cooperate on extracting and processing minerals with the Biden administration. But Ukrainian authorities have postponed the signing twice, according to officials on both sides -- a signal that Ukraine may be waiting for Trump to take office to present the deal as an early victory for his administration.
"This war is about money," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally, told Fox News last month. "So Donald Trump's going to do a deal to get our money back, to enrich ourselves with rare earth minerals. A good deal for Ukraine and us, and he's going to bring peace."