Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to end war in 2025 through diplomacy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy explains how 2025 will be the year his people finally see peace despite fierce fighting with Russia which has seen North Korea join the fray.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is determined to end the war with Russia next year revealing he believes it will be done via ”diplomatic means” with the assistance from America.
Mr Zelenskyy made the comments on Saturday, elaborating on remarks made Friday when he declared a Trump administration meant the war would be over “sooner”.
February 2025 would mark the third anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with Russia’s troops gaining ground in recent months against Kyiv’s outmanned and outgunned soldiers.
The prospect of Trump returning to power in the United States next year has raised questions about the future of the conflict, as the Republican president-elect has been critical of US military aid to Kyiv.
“For our part, we must do everything we can to ensure that this war ends next year. We have to end it by diplomatic means,” Mr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian radio on Saturday.
“And this, I think, is very important.”
There have been no meaningful talks between Russia and Ukraine, but Trump’s re-election has plunged the brutal conflict’s future into uncertainty, with the Republican repeatedly promising to cut a quick deal to end the war.
“We have to understand what the Russians want,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will only accept talks with Ukraine if Kyiv surrenders Ukrainian territory that Moscow occupies.
Zelensky has rejected Putin’s conditions.
Mr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russian forces were suffering heavy losses and that the advance had “slowed down” in some areas.
Ukraine was “at war with a state that does not value its people, that has a lot of equipment, that does not care how many people die”, he added.
RUSSIA COMMITS WAR CRIME
Russian troops disguised themselves in Ukrainian military uniforms this week as they staged a brutal attack on a city on the front line.
Ukrainian military spokesman Captain Andrii Kovaliov told Ukraine’ national news outlet Ukrinform the vile deception occurred on Wednesday with the Russians attempting to gain the upper hand and enter the city of Kupiansk.
“Russian soldiers wore uniforms resembling those of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This violates the laws and rules of warfare and constitutes a war crime,” Capt Kovaliov said.
While wearing the uniform of your enemy to escape imprisonment or avoid harm is allowed, both the Geneva Convention and International Criminal Court expressly forbid it when on the attack.
“It is prohibited to make use of the flags or military emblems, insignia or uniforms of adverse Parties while engaging in attacks or in order to shield, favour, protect or impede military operations,” according to the Geneva Convention.
The Kyiv Independent quoted a statement from the Ukrainian General Staff about the battle.
“Enemy assault groups attacked the positions of the Ukrainian defenders in four waves,” the statement read.
“The enemy deployed a total of about 15 war vehicles, including tanks, armoured cars and a clearing vehicle.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in a post on X that Ukrainian troops successfully drove the Russians out of Kupiansk on Thursday.
“I am grateful to all of them for their resilience and for eliminating the occupiers,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“I am proud of all our people and every unit holding their positions, providing Ukraine with the opportunity to convince the world of one fundamental truth: humanity must prevail. This is what Ukraine is fighting for.”
In an interview on Saturday (AEST) Mr Zelensky admitted he believed Russia’s war with his country would “end sooner” than expected when Donald Trump starts his presidency next year.
“It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House,” Mr Zelensky said.
“This is their approach, their promise to their citizens. The war will end, but we don’t know the exact date.
Mr Zelensky said he had a “constructive exchange” with Donald Trump during a phone call after Mr Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
“I didn’t hear anything that goes against our position,” he said.
Throughout the election campaign, Mr Trump criticised the tens of billions of dollars in aid provided for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, and promised to resolve the conflict “in 24 hours”, without ever explaining how.
This morning began, as always, with a report from Commander Syrskyi. Not just the Donetsk region but also the Kupiansk direction—our warriors there have performed incredibly effectively.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир ЗеленÑький (@ZelenskyyUa) November 14, 2024
I am grateful to all of them for their resilience and for eliminating the occupiers,… pic.twitter.com/jvjOwaTLNB
NORTH KOREA MASS PRODUCING DRONES
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the “mass production” of attack drones, state media reported, as concerns mount over the country’s deepening military co-operation with Russia.
Pyongyang first unveiled its attack drones in August, with experts saying the capability may be attributable to the country’s budding alliance with Russia.
Pyongyang has ratified a landmark defence pact with Moscow and is accused of deploying thousands of troops to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, prompting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to warn about the potential transfer of sensitive Russian military technology to North Korea.
Jong-un on Thursday reportedly oversaw the tests of drones designed to hit both land and sea targets, produced by North Korea’s Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex.
“He underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The unmanned drones are designed to carry explosives and be deliberately crashed into enemy targets, effectively acting as guided missiles.
Thursday’s test saw the drones “precisely” hit targets after flying along predetermined paths, KCNA reported.
“The suicide attack drones to be used within different striking ranges are to perform a mission to precisely attack any enemy targets on the ground and in the sea,” the agency said.
Jung-un said the drones were an “easy to use … component of striking power” due to their relatively low production cost and expansive range of applications, as per KCNA.
He said the North had “recently attached importance” to developing unmanned hardware systems and to integrating them with the country’s overall military strategy
RUSSIA WANTS TRUMP IN TRUCE TALKS
Russia has promised to allow US President-elect Donald Trump to have a shot at resolving their long running war with Ukraine.
Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, made promising remarks regarding an eventual peace deal in Geneva on Thursday.
“Trump promised to settle the Ukrainian crisis overnight. OK, let him try,” Mr Gatilov said.
“But we are realistic people of course we understand that this will never happen.
“But if he starts or suggests something to start the political process, it’s welcome.”
Mr Gatilov had a few conditions when it comes to Russia’s willingness to end the war including taking into account the “realities on the ground” with regards to the territory seized by Russian forces.
He also remained pragmatic about Russia’s relationship with America under a Trump administration.
“The US political elite regardless of domestic political shifts, consistently pursues a stance of containing Moscow,” Mr Gatilov said.
“This orientation is deeply-rooted unfortunately and the change of administration does little to alter it,” he said.
“The only shift (that) might be possible is dialogue between our countries, something that has been lacking during the last several years.”
‘RUSSIA’S JAMIE OLIVER’ FOUND DEAD
The comments come as a famed Russian chef who fled to London after opposing Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine has been found dead while on a visit to Serbia’s capital.
Alexei Zimin, dubbed ‘Russia’s Jamie Oliver’, co-founded the ZIMA restaurant in London, co-authored several books and was a senior contributor to numerous magazines.
His body was found late on Tuesday local time in a flat that he was renting in Belgrade while on a visit to promote his latest book, “Anglomania”, a source close to the investigation into his death told AFP.
Prosecutors told the BBC that the flat was locked from the inside and the death did not appear to be suspicious, but that an autopsy was due to take place.
Born in Russia in 1971, Mr Zimin had opened several restaurants in Moscow before leaving after Russia occupied Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he posted anti-war messages and stopped his Saturday cooking show on a pro-Kremlin television station.
“Throughout his remarkable life, Alexei accomplished a lot – he served as deputy editor-in-chief of Afisha magazine, founded Afisha. Food, also worked as editor-in-chief of Afisha World, GQ, and Gourmet,” his London restaurant ZIMA said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“He hosted several culinary shows, authored numerous books, and launched multiple successful restaurants,” it said.
“To us, Alexei was not only a colleague but also a friend, a close companion with whom we shared many experiences – good, kind, and at times sorrowful.”
Separately, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine said the agency had orchestrated a car-bomb attack in the city of Sevastopol that killed a senior naval officer in the Black Sea Fleet.
The killing of Valery Trankovsky, which was confirmed by Moscow, is the latest in a string of targeted attacks on Russian military officers and pro-Kremlin public figures in occupied Ukrainian territory and within Russia.
Crimea was seized by Russia in 2014 in the wake of pro-democracy protests in Kyiv that sparked fighting in the east with Kremlin-backed separatists.
BIDEN URGES TRUMP TO STAND WITH UKRAINE
President Joe Biden has stressed to incoming leader Donald Trump at a meeting that it was crucial to continue supporting Ukraine against Russia, the White House said.
Sitting in front of the fireplace in the Oval Office, the pair discussed the issue, moments after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly told his members he would not send any more military aid to America’s ally.
“President Biden reinforced his view that the United States standing with Ukraine on an ongoing basis is in our national security interest,” Mr Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Mr Trump later told the New York Post that he asked Mr Biden for his views on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and that the President “gave them to me, he was very gracious”.
He said his transition team’s relationship with the Biden administration was “very, very good”, and that he and the President “both really enjoyed seeing each other”.
Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Ukraine-Russia war would not have started if he had been president.
US MISSILE BASE OPENS IN POLAND
Polish and American officials have opened a US missile base in northern Poland originally intended to defend the West against threats from the Middle East, but now aimed at confronting Russia.
The Redzikowo base, 230km from the Russian border, has been operational since July but was officially inaugurated only on Wednesday.
“A US destroyer on Polish soil has become a fact,” Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, describing it as “of historical importance for the security of Poland, the United States and NATO”.
“Through the conflicts which are ongoing right now, the conflict in Ukraine or in the Middle East, we can see how important air defence and missile defence is.”
First announced in 2009, the project was plagued by delays, and Russia has since emerged as the main security concern for the military alliance’s eastern flank.
NATO chief Mark Rutte told reporters in Warsaw the base “significantly enhances our ability to defend against the growing threat of ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area”.
Despite NATO stating that the Redzikowo facility and a similar system in Romania are purely defensive, Moscow has frequently labelled it a threat.
The new base “constitutes an advance of US military infrastructure in Europe towards our borders”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday.
‘EVER MORE AGGRESSIVE’ ENEMIES
The base is part of a broader NATO missile shield, dubbed “Aegis Ashore”, which includes a system of radars that could intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
Admiral Stuart Munsch, commander of the US naval forces in Europe and Africa, said “building our defences now is vitally important”.
“Global adversaries are becoming ever more aggressive, challenging the international order,” he said at the ceremony.
“While the threat of ballistic missiles is concerning, the technology and the highly skilled operators of this Aegis Ashore site give us confidence in our defence.” Polish general Mieczyslaw Bieniek, a former high-ranking NATO official, told the Polish news agency PAP there was potential to further develop the base’s capabilities.
“There is technological possibility for this system to also be equipped with missiles of a different type that could counter cruise missiles, which would further reinforce our security,” he said.
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Originally published as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to end war in 2025 through diplomacy