Ukraine battle briefing: Zelenskyy rejects ‘fast win’ ceasefire sought by US | Ukraine

The US is making an attempt to “please” Vladimir Putin because it goals for a “fast win” by dashing in the direction of a ceasefire within the Russia-Ukraine battle, Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned in an interview broadcast on Monday. “The US is now saying issues which might be very beneficial to Putin … as a result of they wish to please him. They wish to meet shortly and have a fast win. However what they need – only a ceasefire – is just not a win,” mentioned Ukraine’s president, based on a translation supplied by broadcaster ARD. “We [Ukraine] won’t signal simply something with the intention to be applauded … the destiny of our state for generations to return [is at stake].”

Zelenskyy warned that Europe was in a weak place if it couldn’t depend on US safety help. Whereas “readiness has elevated” in recent times, “when it comes to troop power, the variety of fight troops, the fleet, the air pressure, the drones … I truthfully suppose that Europe is weak in the present day”, he mentioned. Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine had grown extra resilient over the previous three years and that “Putin wouldn’t have the ability to occupy us the way in which he wished to”. Even so, he warned that “there will certainly not be a Ukrainian victory with out US assist”.

Zelenskyy mentioned he and Trump had spoken about deploying overseas troops to police a future ceasefire. “I instructed him the People must be part of this, as a result of in any other case we’d lose our unity.” At a gathering of Kyiv’s backers in Brussels final week, Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, flatly rejected the potential for a US troop deployment to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has hardened his language for the reason that US introduced one-on-one talks with Russia, excluding Ukraine and Europe. On Monday he mentioned that Kyiv “didn’t know something about” the talks in Saudi Arabia this week and “can’t recognise any issues or any agreements about us with out us. And we won’t recognise such agreements”.

Talking after emergency talks between European leaders in Paris, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, additionally warned the US towards makes an attempt to agree a “quick” ceasefire, which might give Russia the possibility “to mobilise once more, assault Ukraine or one other nation in Europe”. Russia was “threatening all Europe now”, she mentioned. The battle was about Russia’s “imperial desires, about constructing a stronger and an even bigger Russia, and I don’t suppose they’re going to cease in Ukraine”.

After Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, mentioned he would take into account placing troops in Ukraine to implement a peace deal, the prime ministers of Sweden and the Netherlands indicated they might take into account it if the peacekeeping pressure had a robust and clear mandate. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, mentioned Poland didn’t plan to take action. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, mentioned: “We in Germany are ready to contribute troopers to a safety assure for Ukraine if obligatory.” Nevertheless, he was “irritated”, including: “It’s utterly untimely and utterly the incorrect time to have this dialogue now … I wish to say that fairly frankly, persons are speaking over Ukraine’s head, concerning the consequence of peace talks that haven’t taken place and to which Ukraine has not mentioned sure.”

Keith Kellogg, formally Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy, on Monday denied that Washington would impose a peace deal “on an elected chief of a sovereign nation”, which means Zelenskyy. Kellogg, nevertheless, doesn’t look like concerned within the Russia-US talks happening in Saudi Arabia this week. Requested if the US would put a safety assure behind different nations sending troops to implement a ceasefire, Kellogg mentioned: “I’ve been with President Trump, and the coverage has all the time been: you are taking no choices off the desk. Earlier than any sort of debate and safety ensures is finalised, in fact these discussions are going to happen. Solutions to these questions shall be decided as you provide you with the ultimate course of.”