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For the first time, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he is ready to withdraw as President of Ukraine if the move secured NATO membership or permanent peace for his country.
“If it brings peace for Ukraine, if you really have to leave my contribution, I am ready. I can exchange it for NATO (membership), ”said Zelenskyy on Sunday at a press conference in Kyiv. “If such conditions are available immediately (I will step down).”
“I am concentrating on security today and not in 20 years. . . I won’t be in power for decades, ”said Zelenskyy before the third anniversary of the full -grown invasion of Russia on Monday.
The astonishing offer of being unlikely due to the weak prospects for the NATO joining is a sign of the extreme pressure on the Ukrainian leader because the United States hurries to conclude a peace agreement with Moscow.
The Trump government has made several concessions to Russia, including the agreement to normalize relationships after bilateral discussions in Saudi Arabia in the past week without excluding NATO membership for Ukraine.
Trump described Zelenskyy as a “dictator” last week, while he accused Kyiv and not Moscow for the beginning of the war.
Russia started its biggest drone strike against Ukraine on Sunday and shot 267 drones against several destinations across the country.
According to Ukrainian officials, Washington also tries to make Zelenskyy too strong to sign a deal that would have the US proceeds from extraction of the Ukrainian minerals.
US officials presented a plan last week to channel up to $ 500 billion in revenue from the recovery of resources to a fund that would belong to the United States 100 percent. Trump described the plan as a repayment for previous US military aid.
Zelenskyy used the Trump government’s demands.
“I know we had $ 100 billion (from help from the USA), but I will not recognize $ 500 billion, no matter what someone says,” said Zelenskyy. “I will not sign anything for which ten generations of Ukrainians will pay.”
Zelenskyy also rejected an assertion by the US Finance Minister Scott Bessent in one On-ed For the Financial Times, in which a minerals “partnership” with the USA would strengthen Ukraine’s security.
Zelenksyy questioned a “certain logic” in Washington that the presence of US companies would skim off the further Russian aggression, which indicated that several US companies in Ukraine had operations when Russia for the first time attacked in 2014.
“This does not offer a 100 percent guarantee that the Russians do not return to places where (US companies) occurred,” added Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said NATO membership for Ukraine is the ultimate security guarantee against future Russian military aggression. But the Trump government put cold water on the idea, and the US Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said at the Munich Security Conference last weekend that he “does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic result Negotiation settlement is ”.
He also ruled out to dispose of US troops in Ukraine with Russia after the end of the war, which Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he would like to see as part of a deal about rare and critical minerals that his administration is negotiating with the white house .
The Trump government has argued that a deal would recharge the growth of the post -war period in the country, but Kyiv has pushed back. Zelenskyy said on Sunday that, as was now proposed by Washington, it would be too expensive and would not provide reasonable security guarantees.
Zelenskyy said that he was convinced that Trump “wants to end this war and will help us”, but also worried that the US President would represent a mere armistice as a “great success”.
“We want to guarantee security for our employees,” he said.
