Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he was willing to give up his position if it meant peace in Ukraine, adding that he could exchange his departure to his country’s entry into NATO’s military alliance, Reuters reported.
“If (that means) peace of Ukraine, if you need me to leave my post, I’m ready,” said an annoyed Zelenskiy when asked during a press conference if he was ready to leave his post, If it meant to ensure peace.
“I can exchange this with NATO (membership) if this condition is there immediately,” the president added.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for elections to take place in Ukraine, after labeling Zelenskiy a “dictator,” a seemingly referral to the official five -year period of the Ukrainian leader in 2024. Russia has quoted this in the past for To claim that he is an illegitimate leader.
Ukrainian law prohibits elections during a state of martial arts that Ukraine declared on the day Russia invaded in February 2022. Trump also false claimed that Zelenskiy has a four percent approval assessment.
“I don’t want to be in power for decades, but we also won’t allow Putin to be in power over Ukraine’s territories,” Zelenskiy said Sunday, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A vote published this week put Zelenskiy’s approval assessments of 63%, and he referred to this as he talked about Trump’s claims on Sunday and called his false statements “dangerous”.
“I think it’s not a mistake, it’s wrong information that has influence,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy said earlier this week that Trump was in a “disinformation bubble” that angered US president and his team. On Sunday he tried to justify the previous comments. “(The information) about four percent of Ukrainians supporting me is one of the signals spread by the Russians, that’s why I said it was a disinformation attack, I didn’t say it was President Trump,” Zelenskiy said Sunday.
Trump’s criticism of Zelenskiy came when the relationship between the two leaders worsened sharply in recent weeks.
Zelenskiy is against the idea of election in a full -scale war, an attitude supported by his great domestic political opponents.
The Ukrainian president also said he would see Trump as a partner for Ukraine and more than just a broker between Kiev and Moscow.
“I want it to be more than just mediation … That’s not enough,” he told a press conference in Kiev.
Minerals trading
Trump has said Ukraine should give $ 500 billion in critical raw materials such as a refund for help Kyiv has already received from the previous Joe Biden administration.
Zelenskiy refused to sign a detailed US proposal last week that would have seen Washington receive 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals that include graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, the latter a key component of electric car batteries.
He has said he wants to make an appointment, but that it should offer security guarantees for Ukraine in return.
On Friday, he said we and Ukrainian teams were working on an appointment and Trump said he expects a deal to be signed soon.
On Sunday, Zelenskiy said at the press conference that he rejected the idea that Ukraine owed USD $ 500 billion.
“There can be no (something) format that makes us debtors the old (given help).”
Zelenskiy said earlier this week that Washington had provided his country with $ 67 billion in weapons and $ 31.5 billion in direct budget support throughout the nearly three -year war with Russia.
“I will not sign what 10 generations of Ukrainians will repay,” Zelenskiy said of the mineral agreement.
Ukraine’s Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Sunday that 18% of Ukraine, during Russian occupation, contained about $ 350 billion of critical raw materials, adding that Ukraine is conducting additional geological research to update decades old information.
The president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Sunday he had held constructive new conversations with senior US officials on an agreement to develop Ukrainian minerals.
“We move on with our work. This was a constructive discussion,” Yermak wrote on telegram.
