Volodymyr Zelensky ‘prepared to end Ukraine War’
The Ukrainian President revealed he’s prepared to sign a peace deal even if Russia doesn’t immediately return the land it occupies.
Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed he’s prepared to sign a peace deal even if Russia doesn’t immediately return the land it occupies.
The valiant Ukrainian President says that his country must join the NATO defence alliance if it were to cede land in a peace agreement, The Sun reports.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he told Sky News.
“We need to do it fast. And then on the (occupied) territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”
Mr Zelensky said it was key that NATO should “immediately” cover all of the land Kyiv controls, so Vladimir Putin does not use the peace to prepare for another invasion.
His Russian counterpart has previously ruled out his country agreeing to letting Ukraine join NATO.
Mr Putin wants Ukraine to be neutral and even said in June that Ukraine needed to drop its NATO bid for peace talks to begin.
Mr Zelensky said in the new interview that Ukraine would later try and return any Ukrainian land Russia continues to hold in a “diplomatic way”.
It was not clear what exactly that meant or how Ukraine would get Russia to return the land.
Mr Putin is expected to demand all the land he currently holds, including the regions of Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and parts of Kharkiv.
Mr Zelensky also said he wanted to work with President-elect Donald Trump directly as the Republican has pledged to achieve peace quickly into his term.
“I want to work with him directly because there are different voices from people around him,” Mr Zelensky said.
“And that’s why we need not to (allow) anybody around to destroy our communication.”
Mr Trump has not made clear how he plans to achieve peace, but analysts believe it will likely mean Ukraine cedes territory to Russia.
The bombshell from Mr Zelenksy marks the first time he has said Ukraine could cede land to Russia, with the Ukrainian previously adamant he would even recapture Crimea.
But, with the election of Mr Trump and Russia seizing two football fields-worth of land a minute in the east, Ukraine is under pressure.
Earlier this year, Mr Zelensky presented a peace plan to the Ukrainian parliament and Western allies.
He released a five-step “victory plan” that included Ukraine joining NATO and increased military support from the alliance.
Mr Zelensky also discussed the plan with Mr Trump and spoke with the President-elect via phone after his landslide win.
Elon Musk – a surprise guest in the three-way discussion – also reportedly chimed in saying he would continue to supply Starlink satellites to Ukraine.
“Nothing of what Zelensky and his aides heard from Trump and his team in private has been alarming or made us feel that Ukraine is going to be the one who pays the price,” a well-placed source said.
Mr Zelensky’s new comments also come just days after Mr Putin threatened to turn Kyiv to “dust” with his new Oreshnik hypersonic missiles.
Mr Putin vowed to launch more after America gave Kyiv permission to fire long range US ATACMS missiles and British Storm Shadow weapons at targets inside Russia.
Ukraine launched its first ATACMS missiles into Russia on November 11 and Storm Shadow rockets just two days later.
Following Mr Trump’s election, reports emerged that he would freeze the conflict in place and establish a demilitarised zone down the locked front line, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Kyiv would not join NATO for 20 years, but the US would continue to arm Ukraine to the teeth to prevent Putin from invading again.
Who would police the demilitarised zone remains unclear, according to the sources, but it wouldn’t involve American troops or an international body.
Russia is making gains taking Ukrainian land in the east at a rate of two football fields a minute.
But, the meat grinder is costing Putin thousands of troops with the dictator sending 2000 to their deaths on one day alone.
That figure from earlier this week marks Russia’s deadliest day of the war so far, beating the previous record set only days before.
Mr Putin’s approach is miserably failing with over 738,000 Russian soldiers now dying under his orders.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey has warned the 600-mile (965km) frontline is now at the most unstable it has been since February 2022.
This story appeared in The Sun and has been reproduced with permission
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