Zelensky offers to step down as president in exchange for peace

Volodymyr Zelensky is willing to step down as president of Ukraine in exchange for peace or the country being granted Nato membership.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian president said: “I am ready to step down if it brings peace. Or trade it for Nato.”

Mr Zelensky added that he was focused on Ukraine’s security now, not in 20 years’ time, saying that it is not his “dream” to remain president for a decade.

His comments came after Donald Trump branded him a “dictator” for not holding elections, which are banned under martial law in Ukraine.

Reports emerged this week that Ukraine may be forced to hold elections before any final peace deal is signed with Russia.

Mr Trump said the demand for a Ukrainian presidential election “came from me”. He then appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war and not reaching an agreement itself.

“You’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” he said.

Mr Zelensky said there would be an “important meeting” of leaders on Monday, the third anniversary of the war.

The leaders will speak about their strategy “not for the coming years, but for the coming week”, he said.

Russia has repeatedly stated that Ukraine must not be allowed to join Nato as part of any peace agreement. Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, said Nato membership for Ukraine was unlikely as part of negotiations during his visit to Brussels last week.

It came as Ukrainian officials said Russia launched its single largest drone attack of the war so far on Sunday.

A “record” 267 Russian drones were launched in a single, coordinated attack, said Yuriy Ignat, Ukraine’s air force command spokesman.

Some 138 drones were intercepted, while 119 disappeared without causing damage after being jammed, he added.

Though many were intercepted, drone strikes caused destruction and fires across Ukraine overnight.

The strikes came on the eve of the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine and as the White House said Donald Trump was confident that a deal to stop the conflict could be achieved “this week”.

‘Aerial terror’

Mr Zelensky said it was the largest drone attack against his country since Russia started using Iranian drones.

“Every day, our people stand against aerial terror,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine had been attacked by 1,150 drones across the entire week.

Credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv

The Ukrainian president said it showed the need to bring a “lasting and just peace”, which he said could only be achieved with the “strength of all of Europe and America”.

Tensions between Washington and Kyiv have been heightened in recent days after Mr Zelensky reportedly refused to sign an agreement that would hand over $500bn of critical minerals and rare earths to the US.

White House officials had said that a deal was close after the Ukrainian president initially rejected a first draft last week.

But the source said the agreement was not yet ready to be signed as there were a number of problematic issues in the current form of the draft.

On Saturday night, Mr Trump said it was “not fair” that the US was getting nothing in return for its military support of Ukraine.

“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” the president said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, adding: “We better be close to one.”

Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, said the US president was “very confident” that a deal to end the war could be struck “this week”.

“The president, his team are very much focused on continuing negotiations with both sides of this war to end the conflict, and the president is very confident we can get it done this week,” Ms Leavitt said following the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Mike Waltz, the White House’s national security adviser, was “working around the clock” to get a deal and “end this conflict with Ukraine,” she added.

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