Cajole, Plead and Flatter: Ukraine Makes Its Case to Trump

From desperate stabs at diplomacy to fanciful expressions of flattery, Ukrainian officials are doing everything they can to bring President-elect Donald J. Trump into their corner as they try to strengthen their position in the war against Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine traveled almost 1,500 miles last weekend on the off chance he could meet with Mr. Trump in Paris. (He did.) Ukrainian leaders have delayed signing a critical minerals cooperation agreement with the United States, with an eye toward letting Mr. Trump claim credit after taking office. (Rather than President Biden.) One Ukrainian lawmaker even nominated Mr. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The fate of Ukraine depends on Trump,” said the lawmaker, Oleksandr Merezhko. He said he spontaneously nominated Mr. 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 Mr. Zelensky himself. Mr. 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, Mr. Zelensky’s public messaging has shifted since Mr. 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 Mr. Trump’s foreign policy team that the Ukrainian leader is reasonable compared with the nuclear saber-rattling of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. 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.”