Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to “give up” his presidency in exchange for peace ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that. And I also can exchange it for Nato membership for Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president said in response to a question during a news conference.
His comments came after US President Donald Trump called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” earlier in the week.
“I wasn’t offended [by the comment], but a dictator would be,” Zelensky, who was democratically elected in May 2019, responded on Sunday.
Zelensky said he was currently focused on Ukraine’s security and it was not his “dream” to remain president for a decade.
Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law, which has been in place since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
EU and world leaders are due to head to Kyiv on Monday to show their support for Ukraine and discuss security guarantees.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are among those expected to attend the meeting in person.
Zelensky said the topic of Ukraine joining Nato would be “on the table” at the meeting but he did not know how the discussions would “finish”. He said he hoped the meeting would be a “turning point”.
On the topic of Trump, Zelensky said that he wanted to see the US president as a partner to Ukraine and more than a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow.
“I really want it to be more than just mediation…that’s not enough,” he told the press conference. His comments come as political leaders in Europe fear Kyiv is being sidelined in talks to bring an end to the war.
Zelensky was also asked about a potential deal the Trump administration has pushed for to provide the US access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals.
“We are making progress,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukrainian and US officials had been in touch about the deal.
“We are ready to share,” the Ukrainian leader said, but made clear that Washington first needed to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin “ends this war”.
Zelensky’s press conference came hours after Russia launched its largest single drone attack on Ukraine yet during the current conflict, Ukrainian officials said.
On Saturday night, Ukraine’s Air Force Command spokesman Yuriy Ignat said a “record” 267 Russian drones were launched in a single, coordinated attack on the country.
Thirteen regions were targeted and while many of the drones were repelled, those that were not caused destruction to infrastructure and at least three casualties, emergency services said.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that 138 of the drones were shot down and 119, which were decoy drones, were lost without negative consequences, likely due to jamming.
In Kyiv, the attack meant six hours of air alerts.
In a statement, Zelensky claimed that 1,150 drones, 1,400 bombs and 35 missiles were launched by Russia this week.
He thanked Ukraine’s emergency services for their response to Saturday night’s attack and called for the support of Europe and US in facilitating “a lasting and just peace”.
In a post on X, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska said that “hundreds of drones” had “brought death and destruction” overnight.
“It was another night of explosions, burning houses and cars, and destroyed infrastructure,” she wrote. “Another night when people prayed for their loved ones to survive”.
On Monday, the war will enter its third year.
As it does, diplomatic wrangling over a potential peace deal continue, with Ukraine, European allies and the US offering differing visions for how to end the conflict.
The US and Russia held preliminary talks in Saudi Arabia this week – without delegates from Europe, including Ukraine, present – which resulted in European leaders holding a hastily-arranged summit in Paris.
Zelensky criticised Ukraine’s exclusion from the US-Russia talks, saying Trump was “living in a disinformation space” governed by Moscow, prompting Trump to respond by calling the Ukrainian president a “dictator”.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Washington on Monday, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will be there on Thursday.
Sir Keir has publicly backed Zelensky, reiterating the UK’s “ironclad support” for Kyiv, and said he would discuss the importance of Ukraine’s sovereignty when he speaks to Trump.
Pope Francis – who is in hospital with respiratory illness – wrote in a remarks released on Sunday that the third anniversary of the war was “a painful and shameful occasion for the whole of humanity”.
By BBC News
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