In a New Year address delivered from Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s need for robust security guarantees in order to achieve a “strong peace” and warned that “either the world stops Russia’s war, or Russia drags the world into its war.”
The president, in a speech posted to Telegram one minute before the new year began, affirmed that Ukraine is doing everything it can to achieve peace but that it would not accept a settlement which left it at risk of the resumption of aggression.
“What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At any cost? No,” Zelensky said. “We want the end of the war – not the end of Ukraine.”
“Are we tired? Extremely,” he continued. “Does that mean we are ready to surrender? Those who think so are deeply mistaken. And clearly, over all these years, they still have not understood who Ukrainians are.”
Zelensky added that Russia does not want to end the war – “there has never been a war in history that they ended of their own free will” – and warned that “taking [the Kremlin] at their word is nothing less than a verdict. A verdict against shared international security.”
His address came just hours after US President Donald Trump appeared to U-turn on previous condemnation of Ukraine for a drone attack alleged by Russia on Vladimir Putin’s luxury Valdai residence.
Trump had previously described himself as “very angry” about the claim by Russia, which has widely been assessed to be untrue by independent analysts and intelligence agencies and for which Moscow has provided no verifiable evidence.
On Wednesday, however, Trump appeared to change his stance, posting a link to a New York Post editorial on Truth Social with the headline: “Putin ‘attack’ bluster shows Russia is the one standing in the way of peace.”
In the piece, the Post’s board argued that Putin had chosen “lies, hatred and death” instead of peace, adding: “Any attack on Putin is more than justified.”
On Wednesday night, Zelensky referenced the claims, praising Ukraine for being “a state that has stood firm… that delivers an asymmetric blow to Russia and forces Putin to lie – claiming he has taken Kupyansk three times and personally shot down drones near his own residence.”
Zelensky took the opportunity to urge the US to apply more sanctions to Russia and renewed his call for long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles for Ukraine.
“Is America capable of stopping the aggressor quickly and decisively? Absolutely,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Sanctions are biting Russia – but only an iron grip will work… And Tomahawks in Ukrainian hands would prove only one thing: peace has no alternative.”
He also reiterated the need for strong security guarantees to prevent Russia from renewing its aggression against Ukraine at a later stage.
“A Budapest-style piece of paper will not satisfy Ukraine. Ukraine does not need a Minsk-style meticulously drafted trap,” Zelensky said.
“Signatures under weak agreements only fuel war. My signature will be under a strong agreement.”
Finally, Zelensky warned that failing to bring an end to the war would only bolster Russia’s military ambitions elsewhere.
“Ukraine is, in fact, the only shield that now separates Europe’s comfortable way of life from the Russian world,” he said. “I do not want that understanding to be brought to Europeans by armored vehicles with the letter ‘Z’ on their streets.”
“We want peace. But unlike New Year’s snow, it will not simply fall from the sky as a miracle,” Zelensky finished. “But we believe in peace, we fight for it and we work for it.”