Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, said that the United States could take decisive actions now that would speed up the end of its war with Russia by next year.
During a conversation with ABC News, Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine was “closer to the end of the war.”
Following that conversation, and after meeting with a bipartisan delegation of Congress, he posted on his Telegram app:
“Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States. Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year.”
This week, Zelensky is in America attending the U.N. General Assembly meeting. He plans to travel to Washington later this week, where he’ll present what he calls a “victory plan” as he tries to influence U.S. policy regarding the Ukraine war, regardless of who wins the presidential election in less than two months.
GOP nominee Donald Trump said on Monday that he believed Zelensky wants Democrats to win the election. While his office didn’t respond to requests for comments on that statement, Zelensky has previously said that he’d work with whoever wins the White House come November.
In speaking with ABC News, the Ukrainian president urged the U.S. and its allies to continue sending support to Ukraine. Thus far, Ukraine has received billions of dollars in assistance, while the U.S. and many western allies have also levied serious sanctions against Russia and many of its top companies and officials.
Zelensky told ABC News:
“I think that we are closer to the peace than we think. We are closer to the end of the war.”
In the more than two years that the war has dragged on — since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 as part of what it calls its “special military operation” — thousands of people have been killed, and many cities and towns in Ukraine have been turned to rubble.
Millions of other people have also been uprooted from their homes.
It will take a “strong position” for Ukraine to push Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, “to stop the war.”
The only details that Zelensky has revealed about his “victory plan” are that it would be a “bridge” to a second peace summit that Ukraine wants to host later this year, inviting Russia to attend.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for the Ukrainian president, added that Zelensky’s plan also includes NATO membership for his country that would be accelerated. That’s not something that Moscow is very likely to be OK with, though.
For Russia to start peace talks, Putin has said that Kyiv would have to abandon large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine to Russia and drop its ambitions to join NATO.
That’s also not likely to happen, which is why legitimate peace talks that get anything done seem far-fetched under the current conditions.
