President-elect Trump’s victory over Vice President Harris this week, has sparked unease over Ukraine’s future and how the incoming Republican administration will handle the war against Russia.  

Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine before the inauguration on Jan. 20, but has offered few details about how that would be accomplished, leading to fears that he would cede territory seized by Russia in the nearly three-year war. 

And there are mounting concerns about Trump’s affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Brian Taylor, professor of political science and director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, cast doubt that Trump could succeed in negotiating a committed peace, as both Moscow and Kyiv remain firmly on opposite sides on key issues.

“I can’t imagine Donald Trump rolling up his sleeves and digging into the nitty-gritty of the words of this conflict,” Taylor tells The Hill. “That’s not who he is [but] that’s what it takes to bring about ceasefires and peace settlements, lots of detailed, nitty-gritty negotiation on a whole host of issues. It’s not simply tell both sides to stop.” 

In the Agence France Presse article, “Biden in Ukraine sprint as Trump victory throws US support in question,” Taylor says that if Trump seeks a direct role in Ukraine-Russia talks, he will “quickly find out that the details and the nuances are not so simple as simply telling everyone to stop shooting at each other.”

In the Newsweek article, “Putin Could Hold Talks With Donald Trump Before Inauguration: Kremlin,” Taylor says, “Putin will be happy but wary about the Trump victory. Putin knows that Trump has never said a bad word about him and wants to do a deal with him, including on Ukraine, but Putin will also be wary because Trump is unpredictable and U.S.-Russian relations did not improve during the first Trump presidency.”

He was also quoted n the La Presse article, “The world on the alert.” Taylor says relations between the two states remained tense during the first term of the U.S. president, who had several advisers hostile to Moscow. "His obvious affection for Putin had not led to a radical change in American policies toward him," he says.