Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that he was willing to step down if it meant peace in Ukraine. His remark came days after Trump questioned his legitimacy and called him a “dictator without elections”, echoing a Kremlin talking point. At the same time, he continued to push back against Trump’s insistence that he sign a minerals deal that Ukraine says is unpalatable. And he announced a meeting on Monday of over 30 countries in person or online as a kind of coalition of support for Ukraine’s war effort.
It was not immediately clear whether Zelensky had seriously considered the option of stepping down or was merely responding to the latest jabs from Washington and Moscow. He added that he could trade his departure for Ukraine’s entry into Nato – a highly unlikely scenario given . Trump’s opposition to allowing Ukraine into the military alliance. “If it brings peace to Ukraine, and if you need me to step down – I am ready,” Zelensky said during a news conference, on the eve of the third anniversary of the war. “Second, I can exchange this for Nato.”
For now, Zelensky said, Ukraine and the US remain locked in negotiations over a deal to trade Ukraine’s minerals and other natural resources for US aid. Zelensky said he was still not ready to sign the US’ latest proposal, which would require Ukraine to pay the US $500 billion using revenues from its natural resources.”I am not signing something that will be paid by ten generations of Ukrainians,” he said, noting that talks would continue.
The talks had already stretched late into Saturday night, according to two Ukrainian officials briefed on the negotiations, and coincided with a huge Russian drone assault on Ukrainian cities overnight. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 267 drones, calling it a “record” since the war began three years ago. Ukraine said that most of the drones were shot down or disabled by electronic jamming, but that debris from destroyed drones damaged houses and sparked fires in parts of Kyiv.
On Saturday evening, President Trump ramped up pressure on Ukraine to sign the deal, which has now been under negotiation for more than 10 days. Several draft agreements have already been rejected by the Ukrainian side because they did not contain specific US security guarantees that would protect Kyiv against further Russian aggression. NYT