Volodymyr Zelensky offers to step down in exchange for Ukraine NATO membership
After surviving three years of war and assassination attempts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready to step aside – providing one very specific condition is met.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would give up his leadership if it meant his country could join NATO.
Mr Zelensky fronted a press conference on the sidelines of the Ukraine: Year 2025 forum in Kyiv.
When asked by a journalist if he’d quit if it meant securing peace, Mr Zelensky responded in the affirmative.
“If (it guarantees) peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to resign, I am ready,” Mr Zelensky said.
“I can exchange it for NATO.”
Mr Zelensky also told media he and US president Donald Trump should meet to discuss an accord granting Washington access to Ukrainian natural resources before any meeting between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
To make an agreement on Ukrainian security concerns, “we need to meet and talk about it. I think that this meeting should be fair, which means before Trump meets Putin,” Mr Zelensky said.
He added that only an real authoritarian would be offended by Mr Trump’s recent characterisation of him as a “dictator.”
“I certainly would not describe the words Trump used as a compliment,” Mr Zelensky said.
“One would be offended by the word dictator if he was a dictator. I’m not. I’m the legally elected president.”
RUSSIA LAUNCHES HUNDREDS OF DRONES
Russia launched 267 drones on Ukraine overnight, a “record” since the February 2022 invasion, the Ukrainian air force says.
Air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat called the 267 drones spotted in Ukrainian skies between Saturday and Sunday “a record for a single attack” since the invasion began nearly three years ago.
Among them, 138 were intercepted by air defence while 119 were “lost” without causing damage, he said in a post on Facebook.
He did not say what happened to the remaining 10 but a separate armed forces statement on Telegram said several regions, Kyiv included, had been “hit”.
A Russian missile attack left one man dead and five more wounded in the central town of Kryvyi Rig, regional authorities said Sunday.
To try to prevent daily Russian strikes, Ukraine has throughout the conflict sought to disrupt Russian logistics far from the front, notably by directly attacking military bases and industrial sites inside Russia itself.
Twenty Ukrainian drones launched against Russia were “destroyed” overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry said meanwhile in a Sunday report.
TRUMP CLOSE TO MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR RARE EARTH DEAL WITH UKRAINE
The Trump administration is close to a deal with Ukraine for access to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of mineral rights in a giant step toward ending Russia’s brutal war on the European nation just three days before the third anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Full details of the tentative agreement were unclear, but the good-cop-bad-cop approach of US President Donald Trump and his special envoy, retired General Keith Kellogg, helped close the gap between Washington and Kyiv, The New York Post reports.
Kellogg, believed to be one of the few Trump administration officials still sympathetic to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, began his two-day trip back to the US without confirming a deal that the White House has pushed hard for — but which high-level officials in Zelensky’s government view as a shakedown.
“Any deal that can be made has to be mutually beneficial,” a spokesperson for the Ukrainian president’s office insisted to The Post.
But shortly after, Trump announced at the White House that the US and Ukraine were “signing an agreement, hopefully in the next fairly short period of time.”
“It’s a big deal, but they want it, and it keeps us in that country, and they’re very happy about it,” Mr Trump added later. “We get our money back. This should have been signed long before we went in. It should have been signed by [former President Joe] Biden.”
After a tense week of back-and-forth barbs between Washington and Kyiv, it was Kellogg’s visit Friday to wounded Ukrainian veterans at Irpin Military Hospital northwest of Kyiv that ingratiated the US to Zelensky, nudging the deal closer to the finish line, sources familiar with the situation told The Post.
Hours earlier, Kellogg had also broken from the rest of the administration in lauding Zelensky publicly.
A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine. Extensive and positive discussions with @ZelenskyyUa, the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war and his talented national security team. https://t.co/kLu9roZ5z1
— Keith Kellogg (@generalkellogg) February 21, 2025
The general also retweeted a similarly glowing account of the meeting from Mr Zelensky.
“A day of intense international work. My meeting with General Kellogg was one that restores hope, and we need strong agreements with the US – agreements that will truly work,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
“I have instructed my team to work quickly and very sensibly.
“Economy and security must always go hand-in-hand, and the details of these agreements matter – the better they are structured, the greater the results.”
The move comes after President Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s input to peace talks was unimportant adding the country had “no cards” to deal with when it comes to peace negotiations.
“I don’t think he’s very important to be in meetings,” Mr Trump told Fox News.
“He’s been there for three years. He makes it very hard to make deals.”
The US President also accused Ukraine of talking “tough” but of having few cards to play.
Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to start talks to negotiate a peace deal after an ice-breaking phone call last week.
“I’ve had very good talks with Putin, and I’ve had not such good talks with Ukraine,” Mr Trump said.
“They don’t have any cards, but they play it tough,” he told US governors at the White House.
“But we’re not going to let this continue. We have people who’ve got to get to the table – we’ve got to get that ended.”
Mr Trump already said earlier this week that Russia has “the cards” because it has seized large chunks of Ukraine’s territory – further spooking Kyiv and European allies who fear he will give Putin concessions for a deal.
Mr Trump branded Mr Zelensky a “dictator” this week and he responded that Mr Trump appeared to be absorbing messages from the Russian “disinformation space”.
The war of words has stunned Kyiv and European capitals, a sign of just how rapidly Mr Trump is overhauling Washington’s longstanding support for Ukraine as he opens talks with Moscow on a settlement to the conflict.
Mr Zelensky said he and General Kellogg discussed the “frontline situation, the need to free all our prisoners of war held in Russia, and the necessity of a clear, reliable system of security guarantees.”
“One that ensures this war never returns and that Russia never destroys lives again,” Mr Zelensky said.
“We all need peace – Ukraine, Europe, America, and the entire world.”
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC the resources deal was Mr Zelensky’s idea
“Well, look, here’s the bottom line. President Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term. And that is good for Ukraine. What better could you have for Ukraine than to be in an economic partnership with the United States?” Mr Waltz said.
Mr Waltz added “by the end of this all, we are going to have the Nobel Peace Prize sitting next to the name of Donald J. Trump.”
When asked about a ceasefire with Russia Mr Waltz responded, “under Trump this war will end, and it will end soon.”
Kyiv had rejected a first attempt by Trump’s team to strike a deal for Ukraine’s natural resources, saying the proposal did not include security guarantees for Kyiv – a move that infuriated Trump.
“There is a constant exchange of drafts, we sent another one yesterday,” the Kyiv source told AFP, adding that Ukraine was now waiting for a US response.
Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from the United States in exchange for signing away precious rights to vast amounts of its natural resources and critical minerals.
It is pressing for NATO membership or for the deployment of Western troops and masses of advanced equipment as part of any wider ceasefire agreement with Russia.
Meanwhile Polish president Andrzej Duda, a long-time vocal supporter of Mr Trump, posted an account to X of a phone call he had with Mr Zelensky.
“We had a candid conversation on the heels of the recent meetings with General Kellogg and other developments,” Mr Duda said.
“I conveyed to him that we consistently believe there is no other way to stop the bloodshed and achieve lasting peace in Ukraine except with the support of the United States.
“For this reason, I suggested to President Zelensky to remain committed to the course of calm and constructive co-operation with Donald Trump. I trust that good will and honesty form the foundation of the US negotiation strategy.
“I have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace.”
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Originally published as Volodymyr Zelensky offers to step down in exchange for Ukraine NATO membership
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