Ukraine’s Zelenskyy offers to leave office in exchange for peace, NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to give up his position in exchange for peace and membership in NATO as his country was hit by what he called the largest Russian drone attack it has faced since the war began.

Zelenskyy made the offer in a news conference in Kyiv on Sunday as the rift widens between himself and the new government in the United States, led by President Donald Trump, on the eve of the three-year anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine.

“If [it means] peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready,” Zelenskyy said. “I can exchange this for NATO [membership], if that condition is there, immediately.”

In a sharp change from the previous US administration of President Joe Biden, which strongly backed Zelenskyy and Ukraine, Trump has increasingly attacked the Ukrainian president since taking office last month. Last week, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” who had little support from Ukrainians. He made those comments after the Ukrainian leader had said Trump was operating in a “disinformation space” after the US president expressed views held by Russia on the war.

But Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he wanted the US president to be a partner rather than just a mediator.

“I really want it to be more than just mediation. … That’s not enough,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he wanted to meet Trump before any meeting between the US leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US appears to be making its support for Ukraine conditional on a deal for the latter’s rare earth minerals. Washington initially demanded 50 percent ownership of the minerals in exchange for its continued support of Kyiv.

Ukraine has indicated a deal could be negotiated, but Zelenskyy on Sunday rejected Trump’s assertion that his country owed $500bn to the US. The Ukrainian president said the money given was in the form of grants, not loans, and should not be tied to any mineral deal.

US officials said on Sunday that they expected a deal to be signed soon.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said Zelenskyy had wavered “in his commitment towards [US access to Ukrainian minerals] a week ago” but that after a message from Trump, he was “not wavering any more”. Witkoff predicted a deal would be signed this week.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said the deal would be signed and he was “hopeful” it would happen this week.

This all comes against a backdrop of rapprochement between Trump and Putin and direct dialogue between Moscow and Washington in recent weeks to discuss ending the war, including a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Sunday that Russian and American teams were planning to meet this week to discuss how relations could be improved.

“We are waiting for real progress when the meeting scheduled for the end of the coming week takes place,” Ryabkov was quoted by the state news agency TASS as saying.

Ukraine is not involved in the Russia-US talks, leading Zelenskyy to emphasise that an agreement on Ukraine reached without Ukrainians at the table is not feasible.

Largest drone attack

Zelenskyy said earlier that Russia had carried out the largest drone assault on Ukraine since the war began, launching 267 drones against his country overnight.

Writing on social media, Zelenskyy said that in the past week, Russia had launched nearly 1,150 attack drones, more than 1,400 guided aerial bombs and 35 missiles at Ukraine.

“Every day, our people stand against aerial terror,” Zelenskyy said as he called on Europe and the US to stand with Ukraine.

Air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said that of the drones launched from Saturday night to early Sunday,138 were intercepted by air defences while 119 were “lost” without causing damage.

He said the 267 drones spotted in Ukrainian skies is “a record for a single attack” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A separate Ukrainian armed forces statement on Telegram on Sunday said several regions, including Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, had been “hit”.

On Saturday, a Russian missile attack on the central town of Kryvyi Rih killed one man and wounded five people, regional authorities said.

“The war continues. Everyone capable of helping with air defence must work to enhance the protection of human life. We must do everything possible to bring a lasting and just peace to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. However, Russian forces and their allies had been fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in the same year although that has not been recognised internationally.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said Ukrainians refer to the Russian drone strikes as “state-sponsored terrorism”.

“It is actually frightening for civilians to come under those attacks, even if they are successfully intercepted,” he said.

Since the war began, Ukraine has sought to disrupt Russian logistics far from the front lines to try to prevent daily strikes, notably by directly attacking military bases and industrial sites inside Russia itself.

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