Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he is ready to resign from his post in exchange for peace or for NATO membership for Ukraine.
“Yes, I am happy, if it is for the peace of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said when asked if he would give up the presidency in exchange for peace.
“If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that; and I also can exchange it for NATO membership for Ukraine,” he added while speaking to reporters during the "Ukraine. Year 2025" conference in Kyiv.
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Zelenskyy's comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump called him a “dictator without elections” last week, and falsely claimed Zelenskyy had a 4 percent approval rating.
The remarks also followed the largest Russian drone attack on Ukraine since the start of President Vladimir Putin's all-out invasion of the country, one day before the third anniversary of the war.
The Ukrainian leader also said at the Sunday conference that the option of Ukraine's joining NATO was “still on the table."
Following high-level talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO membership for Ukraine was unacceptable to Moscow.
"We explained to our colleagues today what President Putin has repeatedly stressed: that the expansion of NATO, the absorption of Ukraine by the North Atlantic alliance, is a direct threat to the interests of the Russian Federation, a direct threat to our sovereignty," Lavrov told reporters.
