A senior Ukrainian lawmaker has withdrawn his nomination of Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing disappointment over the former U.S. president’s stance on the war in Ukraine.
Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Committee, announced the decision in a letter to the Nobel Committee, accusing Trump of “appeasement of aggression” in his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I lost any kind of faith that Trump will deliver in any of his promises,” Merezhko wrote. “This appeasement of aggression encourages Putin to continue the attack. Trump just turns a blind eye to all of it.”
Merezhko had initially nominated Trump in late 2024, hoping the symbolic move would encourage the then-president-elect to follow through on pledges to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, repeated diplomatic failures and a public fallout between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have since soured that optimism.
Despite the criticism over Ukraine, Trump’s recent attempt to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after nearly two weeks of violent clashes has revived calls from some quarters for his Nobel nomination to remain.
The Nobel Peace Prize nominations remain open to a wide range of officials and academics, though the committee rarely comments publicly on individual nominees.
