Ukraine’s Zelensky says US decisive actions could end Russian war in 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The presidential office in Kyiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment but Mr Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said he is willing to work with whoever occupies the White House.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON – Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine in 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sept 23 after telling ABC News that his country was “closer to the end of the war”.
“Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on his Telegram messaging app after meeting a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress.
“Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year.”
Mr Zelensky is in the US for the United Nations General Assembly. Later in the week, he will travel to Washington to present his “victory plan” and influence White House policy on the war, no matter who wins the US election on Nov 5.
On Sept 23, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump – who says he will end the war within days if elected – claimed without evidence that Mr Zelensky wanted the Democrats to win in November
The presidential office in Kyiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Mr Zelensky has previously said he is willing to work with whoever occupies the White House.
In the interview with ABC News, Mr Zelensky urged Washington and other partners to continue supporting Ukraine.
Washington and its allies have provided a multibillion-dollar assistance programme to Ukraine while also imposing several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
“I think that we are closer to the peace than we think,” he was quoted as saying. “We are closer to the end of the war.”
The full-scale Russia invasion of Ukraine ,
The Ukrainian leader said that only from a “strong position” can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin “to stop the war”.
Mr Zelensky has said very little so far about his “victory plan”, except that it would act as a “bridge” to a second Ukraine-led summit on peace that Kyiv wants to hold and invite Russia to later in 2024.
The Ukrainian President’s chief of staff, Mr Andriy Yermak, said in New York on Sept 23 that the plan included accelerated Nato membership for Ukraine, something Moscow says it will never tolerate.
Mr Putin says peace talks can begin only if Kyiv abandons swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and drops its Nato membership ambitions.
Mr Zelensky has repeatedly called for a withdrawal of all Russian troops, and the restoration of Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders. Russia controls about 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory and has been advancing in the east, taking control of a series of settlements in a push to seize the entire Donbas region.
In a bold move to take back the initiative, Ukrainian troops attacked Russia’s western Kursk region on Aug 6 and continue to occupy dozens of villages there.
Mr Zelensky said the Kursk operation exposed the weakness of Mr Putin’s position, even though the Russian military continues to advance on its objectives in Donbas.
“He’s afraid very much,” he said. “Why? Because his people saw that he can’t defend – that he can’t defend all his territory.”
Ukraine and the West say Russia is waging an imperial-style war. Mr Putin cast the Ukraine invasion as a defensive move against a hostile and aggressive West. REUTERS
