Trump says he can end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. Russia's UN ambassador says he can't

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Donald Trump has said repeatedly he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day if he’s elected president again. Russia’s United Nations ambassador says he can’t.

When asked to respond to the claim from the presumptive Republican nominee, Vassily Nebenzia told reporters Monday that "the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in one day.”

At a CNN town hall in May 2023, Trump said: “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.” He said that would happen after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he keeps repeating the claim on the campaign trail.

During last week's debate with President Joe Biden, Trump claimed, “If we had a real president, a president that knew — that was respected by Putin ... he would have never invaded Ukraine.”

Nebenzia said the war could have ended in April 2022 in Istanbul when Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to an agreement. Moscow invaded its neighbor two months earlier on Feb. 24, 2022, though Russia insists its “special military operation” began in 2014 after clashes in Ukraine’s east resulted in Moscow seizing the Crimea Peninsula.

The Russian ambassador blamed Ukraine’s Western backers for blocking the April 2022 peace deal and telling Kyiv to keep fighting Russia.

Now, he said, Zelenskyy “is running around with his so-called peace plan which, of course, is not a peace plan but a joke.” While meeting in Switzerland last month, nearly 80 countries called for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine to be the basis for any peace agreement to end the war. But some key developing nations did not join in and Russia did not attend the conference.

Nebenzia pointed to Putin’s offer on June 14 to “immediately” order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv begins withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounces plans to join NATO.

Zelenskyy, who has vowed not to give up any territory, rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more land.

The Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment about Nebenzia's remarks.

After Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces thwarted their drive to the capital. Much of the fighting has been focused in Ukraine’s south and east, where Moscow illegally seized four regions, although it doesn’t fully control any of them.

But Ukraine is still struggling to stabilize parts of its front line after desperately needed military assistance from the United States was delayed for months before being approved in April. And Russia took advantage of the Ukrainian weapons shortage to launch an offensive and has made gains.

Nebenzia called Zelenskyy’s peace formula “a nonstarter” and said he needs to be “realistic” and take into account what’s happened since April. The more difficult the situation becomes for Ukraine on the ground, he warned, the more difficult diplomacy will become to end the war.

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with President Joe Biden, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. During the presidential debate, Donald Trump did as he often does when it comes to the Capitol riot, skirting past the events of that fateful day, shifting blame for the mob's siege to others and declining to unequivocally say he will accept the results of this year's election. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

In this photo provided by the United Nations, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, and President of the Security Council for the month of July, briefs reporters on the program of work of the Security Council, at the United Nations, Monday, July 1, 2024. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A leading House Democrat is preparing a constitutional amendment in response to the Supreme Court's landmark immunity ruling, seeking to reverse the decision “and ensure that no president is above the law.”

Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, sent a letter to colleagues informing them of his intent to file the resolution, which would kickstart what's traditionally a cumbersome amendment process.

"This amendment will do what SCOTUS failed to do — prioritize our democracy,” Morelle said in a statement to AP.

In referring to Donald Trump, Morelle said the former president "must be held accountable for his decisions. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and stand with me on the front line to protect our democracy.”

It's the most significant legislative response yet to the decision this week from the court's conservative majority, which stunned Washington and drew a sharp dissent from the court's liberal justices warning of the perils to democracy, particularly as Trump seeks a return to the White House. Still, the effort stands almost no chance of succeeding in this Congress.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions take within their official duties — a decision that throws into doubt the Justice Department's cases against Trump, including his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump and his allies celebrated the ruling by the court, which includes three justices appointed by the former president, and his legal team immediately moved to delay sentencing for his felony conviction in an unrelated hush money case in New York state court that had been scheduled for next week. The judge agreed to push off the sentencing until fall.

The outcome all but ensures the federal cases against Trump will not be resolved before the November election when he faces a likely rematch with President Joe Biden.

While the constitutional amendment process would likely take years, and in fact may never come to fruition, supporters believe it is the most surefire way, even beyond a new law, to enshrine the norm that presidents can face consequences for their actions.

“This amendment will guarantee that no public officer of the United States — including the president — is able to evade the accountability that any other American would face for violating our laws,” Morelle wrote in a letter to colleagues this week.

He quoted from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who led the dissent, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who joined in dissenting, before summing up his in his own words: "Presidents are citizens, not tyrants."

Another Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said Monday she planned to file articles of impeachment against the justices over the ruling, which she said represents "an assault on American democracy."

“It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture,” Ocasio-Cortez said on social media. “I intend on filing articles of impeachment upon our return.”

Congress can launch the constitutional amendment process and then send it to the states for ratification. Such a resolution takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, which is highly unlikely at this time of divided government, and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

So far, there have been 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

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This story has been corrected to reflect Justice Sotomayor's first name is Sonia, not Sonya.

FILE - Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., questions a witness during a Committee on House Administration hearing about noncitizen voting in U.S. elections on Capitol Hill, May 16, 2024 in Washington. Morelle is preparing a constitutional amendment in response to the Supreme Court's landmark immunity ruling. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File)