Zelenskiy Says Cease-Fire Talk Risks Pushing Ukraine Into Defeat
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the only way to achieve a swift end to Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion would be to force his country into defeat.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the only way to achieve a swift end to Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion would be to force his country into defeat.
“We would like a fair ending to the war,” Zelenskiy said Thursday. “A quick ending would be a loss.”
The Ukrainian leader was speaking to reporters at a summit in Budapest hosted by Viktor Orban, the European Union’s biggest critic of aid for Kyiv.
Zelenskiy had been seeking to shore up support from his European allies in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election victory in the US. He was already facing an uphill battle to maintain the commitment from other leaders as the political and financial costs pile up.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was late for the meeting after his coalition government collapsed overnight, in part due to a dispute over aid for Ukraine.
Western officials have been saying privately for months that Zelenskiy’s goal of pushing Russia out of Ukrainian territory looks beyond reach in the foreseeable future and signaled their hopes for an end to the fighting.
“Some of you present here were strongly advocating for Ukraine to make concessions,” Zelenskiy told leaders earlier during the summit meeting. “It’s unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for all of Europe.”
As Zelenskiy was speaking with European leaders on Thursday, Russian forces hit the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine with five glide bombs on Thursday, killing four and injuring at least 18 civilians, the regional government said on Telegram. The country was also targeted with a barrage of more than 100 explosive-laden drones overnight.
Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in eastern Europe have been arguing that giving Zelenskiy the weapons and the money to defeat Putin isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also the most effective solution. If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he’ll pose a bigger threat to Europe and that will require much greater investment in defense.
“The European value-based and rule-based system will also somewhat be decided in the conflict,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on the eve of the talks. “That probably also will be a mark that will be left on Europe.”
Yet on the sidelines of the summit discussions, some European leaders were holding their first phone conversations with Trump since the election.
Zelenskiy said that he had not discussed the possibility of a quick end to the fighting when he spoke to Trump Wednesday in the aftermath of the election result. “This is ahead,” he told reporters. “It is clear for me that he wants to end it.”
Zelenskiy said previously that he wanted US help to force Russia to negotiate on Ukrainian terms and avoid a frozen conflict that would give Moscow time to rearm and attack again.
At the same time, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was engaged in a series of bilateral meeting with other leaders, according to another senior official. Starmer is discussing with his European allies how to deepen defense coordination and ramp up help for Ukraine, especially if Trump dials back support after he takes office in January, the official said.
The UK is considering joint procurement with European nations and participating in military exercises, the official added.
US President Joe Biden has so far declined to provide what Kyiv says it needs to achieve a just peace. That plan includes an invitation to join NATO and permission to use western-made weapons to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
US thinking is unlikely to change in the months Biden has left in office, according to western diplomats. Most allies don’t want to risk getting dragged into war with Russia while a symbolic invitation would have limited bargaining power, they added, asking not to be identified.
The diplomats also said that even if Kyiv were given permission for long-range strikes inside Russia, it doesn’t have many missiles and there aren’t enough targets within its reach to substantively change the balance on the ground.
Kyiv on the other hand believes that move would curb Russia’s ability to continue hammering Ukraine’s infrastructure and cities.
Critics have argued that Biden’s Ukraine strategy points to continued stalemate as it’s premised on cautious incrementalism and fear of escalation. Any peace talks in the near future would happen with Russia occupying parts of its neighbor and Putin unwilling to let that land go.
In the longer term, Ukraine’s best bet to guarantee its security is to develop its own defense industry and capabilities with allied help, and mobilize a stronger and younger army, some of the diplomats said.
Speaking in Budapest, Zelenskiy also took an indirect dig at the host of the meeting, Viktor Orban, who has cultivated ties with Putin and visited him in Moscow in July.
“Hugs with Putin won’t help,” Zelenskiy said. “Some of you have been hugging him for 20 years, and things are only getting worse.”
With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska and Alberto Nardelli.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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First Published:8 Nov 2024, 01:24 AM IST
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