Donald Trump risks being a “loser president” if he wins November’s election and imposes a bad peace deal on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, saying it would mean the end of the US as a global “player”, writes The Guardian.

In an interview with the Guardian in Kyiv, Zelensky said he had “no strategy yet” for what to do if Trump returned to the White House, and that the former British prime minister Boris Johnson had approached him on his behalf.

If Trump beats Joe Biden, he is widely expected to cut off US military support to Ukraine. Last year Trump boasted he could end the war in “24 hours”.

Trump’s aides have previously sketched out a possible plan that would involve giving Ukraine’s eastern regions to Russia, as well as Crimea. But Zelensky made clear that “Ukrainians would not put up with that. Nor would they accept a Russian “ultimatum” that forced Ukraine to abandon integration with Europe and future membership of NATO”.

Zelensky acknowledged that a re-elected Trump could, if he really wanted to, impose a crushing military defeat on Ukraine. He could cut off “support, weapons and money”, and even “make deals” with Kyiv’s partners so they stop deliveries of vital arms: “Ukraine, barehanded, without weapons, will not be able to fight a multimillion [Russian] army”.

Speaking inside his presidential headquarters, he said he thought this scenario was unlikely. But he said if it happened there would be grave consequences for the US’s standing in the world – as well as for Trump personally: “Does he want to become a loser president? Do you understand what can happen?”

He predicted that Vladimir Putin would violate any Trump-brokered deal: “A ceasefire is a trap. After a pause Putin would go further, humiliating Trump and making him look “very weak” in the eyes of the world. This is not about him [Trump], as a person but about the institutions of the US. They will become very weak. The US will not be the leader of the world any more. Yes, it will be powerful, first of all, in the domestic economy because it has a powerful economy without a doubt. But in terms of international influence it will be equal to zero”.