There is concern in European capitals Donald Trump could force unfavorable terms on Ukraine, leaving it vulnerable to renewed Russian aggression.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said for the first time he would be willing to cede territory to Russia to end the war in Ukraine in exchange for his country being brought under the NATO umbrella.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he said. “We need to do it fast. And then on the territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.” Zelensky said a ceasefire was needed to guarantee that Putin would “not come back” to take more Ukrainian territory. He said NATO should “immediately” cover the part of Ukraine that remains under Kyiv’s control, something he said Ukraine needs “very much otherwise he will come back”.
Zelensky’s popularity at home is also fading, with very few Ukrainians envisioning him as their next president. A poll published this week by the Social Monitoring Centre in Kyiv found just 16 per cent would vote to re-elect him for a second term. The most comprehensive study of electoral preferences since the invasion began in 2022, also found that about 60 per cent would prefer Zelensky not to even stand for re-election.
In an address to media on Thursday, Putin said that Russia would only halt its attacks if Ukraine agreed to surrender territory and renounce its ambitions to join NATO, which Kyiv has described as equivalent to capitulation.
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