Zelensky says he wants to end war by diplomacy next year

KIEV

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kiev would like to end the war with Russia next year through "diplomatic means", as both countries prepare for Donald Trump's return to the White House.

February 2025 would mark the third anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, with Russia's troops gaining ground in recent months against Kiev's outmanned and outgunned soldiers.

The prospect of Trump returning to power in the United States next year has raised questions about the future of the conflict, as the Republican president-elect has been critical of U.S. military aid to Kiev.

Zelensky spoke a day after saying the war will end "sooner" than it otherwise would have done once Trump becomes president.

He also spoke a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin held his first phone call with a major Western leader in nearly two years, speaking to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who initiated the call despite Kiev's objections.

"For our part, we must do everything we can to ensure that this war ends next year. We have to end it by diplomatic means," Zelensky said on Nov. 16 in an interview with Ukrainian radio. "And this, I think, is very important."

There have been no meaningful talks between Russia and Ukraine, but Trump's re-election has plunged the brutal conflict's future into uncertainty, with the Republican repeatedly promising to cut a quick deal to end the war.

"We have to understand what the Russians want," Zelensky said.

Putin has said he will only accept talks with Ukraine if Kiev surrenders Ukrainian territory that Moscow occupies.

The Kremlin said he repeated that demand in the phone conversation with Scholz on Nov. 15.

Zelensky has rejected Putin's conditions.

Ukraine was angered after Germany's Scholz reached out to Putin.

Berlin said Scholz "condemned Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and called on  Putin to withdraw troops."

It also said Scholz "urged Russia to show willingness to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace."

But Ukraine accused Scholz of an "attempt at appeasement" and said the call would not achieve anything other than minimise Putin's "isolation."

Meanwhile, Russia pounded Ukraine with "one of the largest" aerial attacks it has suffered in an assault that targeted the country's energy infrastructure, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said yesterday.

"Russia launched one of the largest air attacks: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure," Sybiga said following the bombardment that forced Ukraine to cut power in Kiev and two other regions in the east.

Hundreds of missiles and drones streaked across Kiev's skies as Russia's invasion dragged past its thousandth day, killing at least two people, leaving a dozen more injured and damaging the country's already beleaguered energy grid.