President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the case on Monday for a diplomatic settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine and raised the idea of foreign troops being deployed in his country until it could join the NATO military alliance.
The remarks at a joint press conference with German opposition leader Friedrich Merz were the latest to signal Kyiv’s increasing openness to war negotiations, with Donald Trump preparing to return to the White House on Jan. 20.
The U.S. president-elect, who has said he wants to end the war quickly, called on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end the “madness”, after he met Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron for talks in Paris.
“Ukraine wants this war to end more than anyone else. No doubt, a diplomatic resolution would save more lives. We do seek it,” Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv on Monday.
He said he discussed a “freezing” of the lines in the war when he met Macron and Trump. Russia controls nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory after launching the 2022 invasion that unleashed the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
Zelenskiy said he told the two leaders that he did not believe Putin actually wanted to end the war and that the Russian president would need to be forced.
“You can only exert force if Ukraine is strong. A strong Ukraine before any diplomacy means a strong (Ukraine) on the battlefield,” he said, implying Kyiv needed help to become stronger.
He received a rhetorical boost from Merz, the frontrunner in the election race to become Germany’s next chancellor, who used his visit to liken Berlin’s current policy to making Ukraine fight with one arm tied behind its back.
