Zelensky offers to resign in exchange for Ukrainian NATO membership

by Barbara WOJAZER and Daria ANDRIIEVSKA

Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday -- the eve of the third anniversary of Russia's invasion -- that he was ready to quit as Ukraine's president if it meant Kyiv would be admitted to the NATO military alliance.

Zelensky, who has faced fierce criticism from the new US administration, also said he wanted to meet Donald Trump before the US president meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky has been calling for Ukraine to be given NATO membership as part of any deal to end the war, but the Washington-led alliance has been reluctant to commit.

"If there is peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready," Zelensky told a Kyiv news conference. "I can exchange it for NATO."

Zelensky and Trump have been engaged in a war of words since US and Russian officials met last week in Saudi Arabia for their first high-level talks in three years. The move undermined the West's policy of isolating the Kremlin and infuriated Ukrainian and European leaders, excluded from the meeting.

In recent days, Trump has branded Zelensky a "dictator", falsely claimed Ukraine "started" the war, and claimed, contrary to independent opinion polls, that the Ukrainian leader was unpopular at home..

Zelensky said he was not "offended" by Trump's comments and was ready to test his popularity in elections once martial law ends in Ukraine.

"I very much want from Trump an understanding of each other," he told journalists, adding that "security guarantees" from the US president were "much needed".

The Ukrainian leader also called for Trump to meet him before any summit with Putin.

There had been "progress", he added, on a deal to give the United States preferential access to Ukraine's critical resources.

- European leaders rally -

European leaders were adjusting Sunday to the changing geopolitical realities.

Germany's conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said Sunday his priority was to boost Europe's defense capabilities.

"After Donald Trump's statements in the last week, it is clear that the Americans are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe," he said, hours after exit polls announced his party's clear win.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said in a post on X that he was looking forward to working with Merz "in this crucial moment for our shared security.

"It's vital that Europe step up on defense spending and your leadership will be key," he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this week to make the case for supporting Ukraine.

In Brussels, the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, announced a special European summit on the Ukraine war for March 6.

"We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security," Costa wrote in a post on X.

- 'Promising' -

Earlier Sunday, the Kremlin hailed dialogue between Trump and Vladimir Putin -- whom spokesman Dmitry Peskov called two "extraordinary" presidents -- as "promising".

"It is important that nothing prevents us from realizing the political will of the two heads of state," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV.

AFP

Putin says Russian soldiers in Ukraine 'defending Russia's future'

But he ruled out any territorial concessions as part of a settlement and Moscow has repeatedly rejected NATO membership for Ukraine.

"The people decided to join Russia a long time ago," Peskov said, referring to Moscow-staged votes in eastern Ukraine held amid the offensive and dismissed as bogus by Kyiv, the West and international monitors.

"No one will ever sell off these territories. That's the most important thing," he said.

On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a Ukraine peace deal that respects the country's "territorial integrity."

- 'God willed it' -

Putin, in his own comments on the eve of the anniversary of his "special military operation" on Ukraine, said "God" was behind his "mission" to defend Russia.

"Fate willed it so, God willed it so, if I may say so. A mission as difficult as it is honorable -- defending Russia -- has been placed on our and your shoulders together," he told servicemen who have fought in Ukraine.

Moscow's army launched a record 267 attack drones at Ukraine overnight Saturday to Sunday, Kyiv's air force said. Most were shot down or intercepted and there were no reports of major damage.

Russia's TASS news agency reported that US and Russian diplomats would meet in the next week, a follow-up to Riyadh talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The agency also reported that Lavrov had arrived in Turkey for talks Monday with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

© Agence France-Presse