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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said for the first time that he is willing to step down as Ukraine’s president if the move secured Nato membership or lasting peace for his country.
“If it brings peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I’m ready. I can exchange it for Nato [membership],” Zelenskyy told reporters at a press conference in Kyiv on Sunday. “If such conditions exist [I will step down] immediately.”
“I am focusing on security today and not in 20 years’ time . . . I won’t be in power for decades,” Zelenskyy said ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine on Monday.
The startling offer to step down, while improbable given the dim prospects of Nato accession, is a sign of the extreme pressure on the Ukrainian leader as the US hurries to hatch a peace deal with Moscow.
The Trump administration has made several concessions to Russia, including agreeing to normalise relations after bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia last week, while excluding Nato membership for Ukraine.
Trump described Zelenskyy last week as a “dictator” while blaming Kyiv, rather than Moscow, for starting the war.
Russia launched its biggest drone strike against Ukraine on Sunday, firing 267 drones against multiple targets across the country.
Ukrainian officials say Washington is also trying to strong-arm Zelenskyy into signing a deal that would award the US large amounts of the proceeds from extracting Ukrainian mineral deposits.
US officials presented Kyiv last week with a plan to channel up to $500bn in proceeds from resource extraction into a fund that would be 100 per cent owned by the US. Trump has described the plan as repayment for previous US military aid.
Zelenskyy pushed back against the Trump administration’s demands.
“I know we had $100bn [of assistance from the US] but I’m not going to acknowledge $500bn, no matter what anyone says,” Zelenskyy said. “I’m not going to sign something that ten generations of Ukrainians will be paying for.”
Zelenskyy also rejected an assertion by US treasury secretary Scott Bessent in an op-ed for the Financial Times that a minerals “partnership” with the US would strengthen Ukraine’s security.
Zelenksyy challenged “a certain logic” in Washington that the presence of US companies would deter further Russian aggression, pointing out that several US businesses had operations in Ukraine when Russia first attacked in 2014.
“This does not provide a 100 per cent guarantee that the Russians won’t return to places that [US companies] have entered,” Zelenskyy added.
Zelenskyy has said that Nato membership for Ukraine is the ultimate security guarantee against future Russian military aggression. But the Trump administration has poured cold water on the idea, with US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth saying at the Munich Security Conference last weekend that he did “not believe that Nato membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement”.
He also ruled out deploying US troops in Ukraine after the war with Russia ends, which Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he would like to see as part of a deal on rare and critical minerals that his administration is negotiating with the White House.
The Trump administration has argued that a deal would fuel postwar growth in the country, but Kyiv has pushed back. Zelenskyy said on Sunday that, as it is proposed now by Washington, it would be too costly and would not provide adequate security guarantees.
Zelenskyy said he was convinced Trump “wants to end this war and will help us to do that” but was also worried that the US president would present a mere ceasefire as “great success”.
“We want to guarantee security for our people,” he said.
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