Zelensky offers to resign in exchange for Ukrainian Nato membership
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been calling for Ukraine to be given Nato membership.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb 23 – the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion – that he was ready to quit as Ukraine’s president if it meant Kyiv would be admitted to the Nato military alliance.
Mr Zelensky, who has faced fierce criticism from the new US administration, also said he wanted to meet US President Donald Trump before Mr Trump meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Mr Zelensky has been calling for Ukraine to be given Nato membership as part of any deal to end the war, but the Washington-led alliance has been reluctant to make a pledge.
“If there is peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready” Mr Zelensky told a Kyiv news conference. “I can exchange it for Nato.”
Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump have been engaged in a war of words since US and Russian officials met last week in Saudi Arabia for their first high-level talks in three years.
The move undermined the West’s policy of isolating the Kremlin and infuriated Ukrainian and European leaders excluded from the meeting.
In recent days, Mr Trump has branded Mr Zelensky a “dictator”
Mr Zelensky said he was not “offended” by Mr Trump’s comments and was ready to test his popularity in an election once martial law ends in Ukraine.
“One would be offended by the word ‘dictator’, if he was a dictator,” Mr Zelensky told the press conference.
“I want very much from Trump understanding of each other,” he told journalists, adding that “security guarantees” from the US President were “much needed”.
The Ukrainian leader also called for Mr Trump to meet him before any summit with Mr Putin.
There had been “progress”, he added, on a deal to give the US preferential access to Ukraine’s critical resources.
European leaders rally
European leaders were adjusting on Feb 23 to the changing geopolitical realities.
Germany’s conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said on Feb 23 that his priority was to boost Europe’s defence capabilities.
“After Donald Trump’s statements in the last week, it is clear that the Americans are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe,” he said hours after exit polls announced his party’s clear win.
Nato chief Mark Rutte said in a post on social media platform X that he was looking forward to working with Mr Merz “in this crucial moment for our shared security”.
He added: “It’s vital that Europe step up on defence spending, and your leadership will be key.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this week to make the case for supporting Ukraine.
In Brussels, Mr Antonio Costa – the head of the European Council – announced a special European summit on the Ukraine war for March 6.
“We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security,” he wrote in a post on X.
‘Promising’
Earlier on Feb 23, the Kremlin hailed dialogue between Mr Trump and Mr Putin – whom spokesman Dmitry Peskov called two “extraordinary” presidents – as “promising”.
Mr Peskov told state TV: “It is important that nothing prevents us from realising the political will of the two heads of state.”
But he ruled out any territorial concessions as part of a settlement, and Moscow has repeatedly rejected Nato membership for Ukraine.
“The people decided to join Russia a long time ago,” he said, referring to Moscow-staged votes in eastern Ukraine held amid the offensive that were slammed as bogus by Kyiv, the West and international monitors.
“No one will ever sell off these territories. That’s the most important thing,” he added.
On Feb 23, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an Ukraine peace deal that respects the country’s “territorial integrity”.
‘God willed it’
Mr Putin, in his own comments on the eve of the anniversary of his “special military operation” on Ukraine, said “God” and “fate” were behind his “mission” to defend Russia.
“Fate willed it so, God willed it so, if I may say so. A mission as difficult as it is honourable – defending Russia – has been placed on our and your shoulders together,” he told servicemen who have fought in Ukraine.
“Today, at the risk of their lives and with courage, they are resolutely defending their homeland, national interests and Russia’s future,” Mr Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin.
Moscow’s army launched a record 267 attack drones
Most were shot down or intercepted, and there were no reports of major damage.
Explosions are seen in the night sky as Ukrainian servicemen fire at the drone during a Russian drone strike.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Russia’s Tass news agency reported that US and Russian diplomats would meet in the next week, a follow-up to Riyadh talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The agency also reported that Mr Lavrov had arrived in Turkey for talks on Feb 24 with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. AFP
