Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to “freeze” the current frontlines for a peace deal with Russia and end the conflict that began in February 2022.
Zelenskyy, who is being criticised by US President Donald Trump for failing to take steps to end the current conflict, made the remarks while appearing on ‘Fox & Friends’ on Wednesday.
When asked if he would hold ’75 per cent or more’ of his country, he was affirmative and said he was ready for a ceasefire, but underlined that Ukraine must be given security guarantee that “Russian aggression and occupation” will not return.
“Yes, right now we have to freeze, and I think this is a real way to end this war. We call it a ceasefire … President Trump called it freeze and stop,” Zelenskyy said. “And of course, this is [the] minimum of what we need from Russia today – then of course we’ll go to President [Trump] and to Europeans and we’ll ask [for] security guarantees.”
‘Russia not winning’
Despite indirectly hinting that he is ready to give 25 per cent of area lost to Russia, Zelenskyy reiterated that Moscow is not winning the conflict. Although he agreed that Ukrainians are tired of this war, underlined that they want to remain in their own country and would continue fighting against the Russians.
“They’re not winning on the battlefield,” he said on ‘Fox & Friends’. “That’s why they want us to push using any kind of, you know, any kind of pressure on us to push us from our land. It’s not fair. People are tired, of course we want to end this war as quickly as possible.”
The growing differences between Trump, Zelenskyy
This is probably the first time when Zelenskyy said Ukraine would agree giving up the lost area. Recently, he had also met top US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, discussing ways to end the conflict.
The development comes as differences appear to be growing between Trump and Zelenskyy over the recent US-Russia oil deal. Zelenskyy has criticised the move, but Trump has hit back at him and said that Ukraine needs a new president. Zelenskyy’s ministers responded to this and said Ukrainians are backing the president to remain their leader.
Amid this, a Wall Street Journal report has claimed that Russia’s Vladimir Putin has proposed a trilateral meeting on Ukraine with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to end the conflict in Moscow’s favour. Although US and Chinese officials have not confirmed this, Russian authorities remain hopeful about the meeting.
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