Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says tough US measures could end Russian war next year By Reuters

Written by Kanishka Singh and Costas Pitas

(Reuters) – Decisive steps by the United States now could hasten the end of Russia’s war with Ukraine next year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday 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,” Zelenskiy said in his Telegram message post after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress.

“A decisive step now could hasten the end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year.”

Zelenskiy is in the United States for the UN General Assembly. Later this week he will travel to Washington to present his “victory plan” and influence White House policy on war regardless of who wins the US election on November 5.

On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump – who says he will end the war within days if elected – said without evidence that Zelenskiy wanted the Democrats to win in November.

The presidency in Kyiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Zelenskiy has said he is willing to work with whoever is in the White House.

In an interview with ABC News, Zelenskiy urged Washington and other partners to continue supporting Ukraine. Washington and its allies have provided a multi-billion dollar aid package to Ukraine while also imposing several rounds of sanctions against Moscow.

“I think we are closer to peace than we think,” he was quoted as saying. “We are nearing the end of the war.”

SILENCE SYSTEM

Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, or “special military operation” as Moscow calls it, began in February 2022 and has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and turned Ukrainian towns and cities into ruins.

The Ukrainian leader said in an ABC interview that only in a “strong situation” would Ukraine pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin “to stop the war.”

Zelenskiy has said little so far about his “victory plan,” except that it will serve as a “bridge” to a second Ukrainian-led peace conference that Kyiv wants to host and invite Russia later this year.

Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in New York on Monday that the plan includes accelerating Ukraine’s NATO membership, something Moscow says it will never tolerate.

Putin says peace talks can only begin if Kyiv leaves a stretch of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and drops its ambitions for NATO membership. Zelenskiy has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of all Russian troops, and the restoration of Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders.

Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory and has been advancing eastward, controlling a series of settlements and pushing to capture the entire Donbas region.

In a bold move to reverse this move, Ukrainian troops invaded the western Russian region of Kursk on August 6 and proceeded to capture dozens of villages on Russian soil.

Zelenskiy told ABC News that the Kursk operation exposed the weakness of Putin’s position, even as Russian forces continued to advance on their targets in the Donbas.

“He’s very scared,” she said. “Why? Because his people realized that he couldn’t protect – that he couldn’t protect all his territory.”

Ukraine and the West say Russia is waging an imperial war. Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine as a defensive measure against a hostile and aggressive West.