Trump's Nobel Peace Prize nomination withdrawn
Donald Trump's Nobel Peace Prize nomination has been withdrawn by a senior Ukraine politician who accused the US president of appeasing Vladimir Putin.
Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of Ukraine's foreign affairs committee, said he had lost 'any kind of faith' in Mr Trump's ability to end the war.
He nominated Mr Trump in late 2024, revealing to The Telegraph that he believed it would encourage the president-elect to follow through on a pledge to end the war.
Since then, Mr Trump has largely abandoned peace talks after repeated rounds of failed negotiations and a very public falling out in the Oval Office with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
'This appeasement of aggression encourages Putin to continue the attack. Trump just turns a blind eye to all of it,' Mr Merezhko said in a letter to the Nobel committee.
'I lost any kind of faith that Trump will deliver in any of his promises.'
Despite failings in Ukraine, Mr Trump's push this week to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after 12 days of fighting has prompted fresh calls for a Nobel Peace Prize.
On Tuesday, Buddy Carter, a US Republican politician, wrote to the Nobel committee to nominate Mr Trump for his 'extraordinary and historic role' in bringing to an end 'the armed conflict between Israel and Iran and preventing the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet'.
Addressing Mr Trump's efforts in the Middle East, Mr Merezhko said: 'I understand his position in relation to Israel. It is the right thing to do in order to help Israel to survive because Iran has said they want to destroy Israel.
'I wish he would do the same for Ukraine. Russia also wants to destroy Ukraine. Russia and Iran help each other. Trump should be consistent and help Ukraine.'
The US bombed Tehran's nuclear sites on Saturday amid fighting between Israel and Iran. Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US air base in Qatar in retaliation but no one was injured and Washington was warned of the attack in advance.
Mr Trump subsequently announced that the two nations had agreed to down weapons but lambasted them both on Tuesday morning as they continued to trade fire.
Mr Merezhko said: 'Ukraine did everything Trump wanted. We agreed to all the ceasefire demands, including the mineral deal.'
Mr Merezhko nominated Mr Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize to acknowledge his role in the Abraham Accords and to encourage him to bring peace to Ukraine.
'My goal was to give a push in the direction of peace with the nomination. He has failed to deliver on his promises,' he said.
'This seriously undermines US credibility on the world stage. Each day we're being bombarded but Trump doesn't care.'
Mr Trump was widely mocked for writing 'Vladimir, stop!' on social media after a bombardment of Kyiv earlier in 2025.
Mr Trump rarely rebukes Putin publicly and his envoy, Steve Witkoff, flew to St Petersburg in May for a meeting with the Russian leader.
Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine's south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday.
According to reports, the strikes killed 11 people and injured more than 160 others.
Mr Merezhko said the continued strikes were why he had lost faith in Mr Trump.
'My goal with the nomination was to give a push in the direction of peace. My hope was that [Mr Trump] was sincere,' he said. 'He has failed to deliver on his promises.
'I cannot in all good conscience support President Trump's nomination for nor receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.'
Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's foreign minister, called on Nato leaders meeting in The Hague, including Mr Trump, to put 'pressure on the aggressor'.
'We urge this week's Nato and EU summits to reach decisions that project strength,' he said.
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