“We must do everything to end the war next year”. Highlights from Zelenskyʼs interview with “Ukrainian Radio”

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview to Ukrainian Radio. In it, he talked about expectations from the presidency of Donald Trump, the possibility of negotiations with Russia, about the mobilization and staffing of brigades, as well as about the end of the war.

Babel collected the main points from the interview of the president.

Elections in the USA

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are possible only if Ukraine is strong. For this, the position of the US President-elect Donald Trump and the strong position of America in general are important.

"If we talk simply with [the leader of the Russian Federation Volodymyr] Putin, simply with a murderer, in the conditions in which we are not strengthened by some important elements, this is a losing status for Ukraine at the entrance. In a weak position, there is nothing to be done at these negotiations," is how Zelensky comments on the possibility of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

He was asked whether Trump demanded Kyiv to participate in negotiations with Russia, to which the Ukrainian leader replied:

"We are an independent country. And during this war, both our people and me personally, in negotiations with the USA, with Trump, with Biden, and with European leaders, we proved that the rhetoric of "sit down and listen" does not work with us."

“He [Trump] said he wants to end the war, but he wants to help. And he is on the side of supporting Ukraine, appreciates our strength, integrity and courage. That is, the atmosphere in our talks has been good so far," says the president.

Negotiations

Zelensky believes that it is beneficial for Putin to talk with world leaders — this is how he gets out of political isolation. It is beneficial for Putin to negotiate capitulation terms from Ukraine, but, according to Zelensky, "no one will give him that."

During the election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would be able to quickly end the war in Ukraine, but did not specify exactly how. Zelensky says that the teams of the countries will work on a "meaningful" meeting of the leaders. When asked about the "red lines" of Ukraine in the negotiations, to which the United States can be encouraged, the president said that he will openly talk about it after Trump receives all presidential powers.

Mobilization

We need to find a balance so as not to lose unity in the army and in society, says Zelensky. In May 2024, a new law on mobilization came into force — the president evaluates its effectiveness "differently".

The law on mobilization was supposed to increase the number of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The Secretary of NSDC Oleksandr Lytvynenko declared at the end of October that they plan to call up another 160,000 people. In total, 1 million 50 thousand citizens were called up.

In an interview, Zelensky said that he did not agree with these figures and was "surprised by the secretary of the National Security Council."

"Do I know how many were mobilized after this law? Yes. Is it enough? No. [...] To say the exact number is wrong. I am surprised by the secretary of the National Security Council. Didnʼt know he was spreading this information," the president commented.

Demobilization

Zelensky believes that "the war will end faster" when Trump becomes the president of the United States. He emphasized that a just peace is important for Ukraine, which does not involve "the feeling that we lost the best because of the injustice that was imposed on you."

"The war will end, but there is no exact date. Certainly, with the policies of this team now in charge of the White House, the war will end sooner. This is their approach, their promise to their society, and it is also very important for them," the president summed up.

The President commented on cases of arbitrary abandonment of military units. According to him, there are "different brigades, different training and different morale of the military."

"Itʼs generally difficult to talk about it. "Intolerable conditions". For example, a team that is—perhaps it is incorrect to say so—ideal: there is normal training, selection, atmosphere. And even in such brigades there are moments with AWOL, with desertion. But we cannot say that the conditions in this brigade are "unbearable". I would not like to generalize things related to AWOL etc. Different reasons, different people, different attitudes," he says.

Production of weapons

Four types of Ukrainian missiles are currently being tested. So far, Ukraine "has not achieved high results" in the production of drones and electronic warfare systems, but "they exist." The years of war led to the fact that Ukraine became technologically the strongest in Europe.

Front

Zelensky talks about the difficult situation in the east of Ukraine. The Russians are slowly pressing and advancing. There are several reasons for this, in particular, filling the Ukrainian brigades with trained people and equipping them with weapons are very slow processes. The delivery of some weapons has been waiting for 12 months since the agreement in the US Congress.

Also rotation is needed for the military because people get tired. Other brigades should come to their place, but they may be understaffed — Ukraine will not throw them "for meat" as the Russians do. That is why we have to withdraw from some positions — Russian troops attack the positions with guided aerial bombs and destroy everything.

The president also commented on the creation of new brigades: "In order for there to be rotation, one brigade must be replaced by another. We can call it "new". Thatʼs why no one made dozens of new brigades."

Zelensky emphasized that Russia is advancing at the front with huge losses — up to 1.5-2 thousand people a day wounded and killed. According to him, the troops cannot advance constantly with such losses. Now, in order to stop them, reserves, equipped brigades will be suitable.

"And from our side, we must do everything to end the war next year. By diplomatic means. This is very important," Zelensky emphasized.

Strikes on energy

Ukraine is ready for Russian energy strikes in winter. The Russians are preparing, accumulating forces and will continue combined strikes. There are agreements on missiles for air defense systems Patriot, NASAMS, Hawk, Iris-T, etc. According to Zelensky, Ukraine is in a "pretty good position" regarding many air defense systems.

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