Zelensky: Kiev must do ‘everything it can’ to end war with Russia next year through diplomacy –

Ukraine should do everything it can to ensure that the war with Russia ends next year through diplomacy, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, at a critical moment after Donald Trump won the US presidential election and as Russia makes gains on the battlefield. But the Ukrainian president said Russian President Vladimir Putin was not interested in reaching a peace deal, and argued it would be convenient for Moscow to sit in on talks while continuing the war.

“For our part, we must do everything to end this war in time, to end it through diplomatic channels,” Zelensky explained in a radio interview broadcast today. Moscow’s ambassador to the UN headquarters in Geneva said yesterday, Thursday, that Russia would be open to negotiations to end the war if initiated by Trump, although he added that they would have to recognize “the realities on the ground.” .

Moscow uses this phrase to say that Ukraine should cede four regions that have been partially occupied by Russian forces and that Russia claims in its entirety.

Zelensky has repeatedly said since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 that peace cannot be established until all Russian forces are expelled and all territory seized by Moscow, including Crimea, is returned.

However, a return to Ukraine’s internationally recognized 1991 borders does not figure in the president’s “victory plan” he unveiled last month.

Zelensky said the war was likely to end sooner under Trump, who often said during his campaign that he would end the war quickly, without explaining how.

At the same time, the Ukrainian president explained that US law prevents him from meeting with Trump before he is sworn in on January 20.

“We will do everything in our power (to secure a meeting). We had a really good meeting in September,” Zelensky said, adding that he would only speak directly to the Republican and not through an envoy or adviser.

The situation in eastern Ukraine

Zelensky admitted that the situation on the front in eastern Ukraine is difficult and that Russian forces are making progress.

Moscow’s forces are now closing in on Kurakovo, which has a thermal power station and is only 7km from Pokrovsk, a large city which for much of the war has been a logistical hub for Ukraine.

On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, Russia is now advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the war in 2022. Zelensky said the situation is difficult for several reasons, one of which is delays of up to a year in equipping units, in part because the US Congress delayed for months last winter in approving aid to Ukraine.

However, he said some of these units will now enter the fray.

“To stop the Russian army, new reserves with the equipment we have been waiting for so long will now arrive,” he said.

Ukraine is seeking to boost its own weapons production to reduce dependence on allies. Zelensky said Ukraine is now building four different missiles, which he said are currently in the testing stage.