Kyiv – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would move if it meant peace for his country, adding that he would also do so if it meant Ukraine would be granted by NATO.
Zelenskyy made the comments on Sunday in response to a question from the foreign foreign correspondent for ABC News, Ian Pannell, at a press conference in kyiv, one day before the third anniversary of the large -scale invasion of Russia .
“If for peace for Ukraine, it is really necessary for you that I leave my post, I am ready,” Zelenskyy replied to Pannell asking him if he was ready to resign him if he could help peace. “We can exchange it for NATO membership. If these are the terms, then do it without delay. I focus on the security of Ukraine today, not in 20 years, and I I don’t intend to stay in power for a decade.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answers media questions at his press conference in kyiv, Ukraine, February 23, 2025.
Evgeniy Maloletka / AP
Zelenskyy’s remarks came after President Donald Trump accused him of being an “election -free dictator” and presented him as an obstacle at the end of the war in Ukraine, saying last week after Russia American in Saudi Arabia “either better” to move better or that it is not Russian will remain a country. “”
Trump sparked a public break in relations with Zelenskyy last week, when he moved to falsely blame Ukraine for war (Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022) and the restoration of American relations with Russia. In particular, talks in Saudi Arabia last week did not include Ukraine.
The Trump administration also exerts pressure on Zelenskyy, demanding that it signs an agreement that would have a Ukraine paying $ 500 billion in the United States through a fund, funded by taking 50% of the income from the natural resources of the ‘Ukraine – including minerals, oil and gas – – as well as ports and other infrastructure. Trump presented the agreement as a back salary for the help that the United States has already provided to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has so far refused to sign an agreement because he does not offer any guarantee and because he says that the amount required by Trump is five times more than the United States has given since 2022 (the Institute Kiel for the global economy, based in Germany, estimates that the United States has hired around $ 119 billion in Ukraine aid since the invasion of Russia in 2022. This figure combines military, financial and humanitarian aid.)
On Sunday, at the press conference, Zelenskyy said that he was not willing to accept to pay $ 500 billion, saying that Ukraine had received $ 100 billion in US Zelenskyy also Criticized the conditions, noting that the project agreement would see a reimbursement of Ukraine $ 2 for each dollar given to him.
“I just want a dialogue with President Trump. I think it’s just. I don’t stop at something that future Ukrainian generations will have to reimburse for the next 10 generations, ”he said.
A senior Ukrainian official told ABC News on Saturday that Ukraine had proposed to reimburse $ 100 billion in the United States, but Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he was uncomfortable with that, noting that money had been given to Ukraine as a grant approved via the Bipartisan agreement at the Congress – – Not as a loan to reimburse with interest.
Zelenskyy said that his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, is currently negotiating with the Trump administration, including the national security advisor Mike Waltz, and that the figure of $ 500 billion was no longer discussed in talks. “We are progressing,” he said on Sunday.
Zelenskyy also repeated that he thought that membership of NATO for Ukraine is always the most “more profitable” solution for the security of Ukraine, insisting that the country must have guarantees of security so that any peace agreement is acceptable and sustainable.
On Sunday, Trump officials were pressure on Ukraine to withdraw an annual resolution of the United Nations project which condemns the invasion of Russia in 2022 and to replace it with a declared declaration by the United States which does not attribute The responsibility of the war, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine has so far refused to withdraw the resolution.
So far, Trump, pushing an end to war, has only caused pressure in Ukraine, which asks him to make concessions while seeming to demand little from Russia, except that she stops to fight.
“What do I want from Donald Trump? I think if we have confidence in what he says, it’s the same thing: a quick end in war. On this point, we are entirely Agreement.
“But” peace through strength “means concentrating this force against Russia. This, I think, is the essence of the sentence. I want it on our side – I don’t think simple mediation is sufficient. We need security guarantees from the United States, “said Zelenskyy, also expressing his gratitude for bipartite support to Ukraine at Congress.
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine needs sustainable security, saying that even if Trump can dissuade Putin now, he will not always be there. “He [Trump] is not forever, and we need peace for many years, “said Zelenskyy.
David Brennan of ABC News contributed to this report.
