By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would like to end the war with Russia next year through what he called “diplomatic means”.
“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 in an interview with Ukrainian radio. “And this, I think, is very important,” he added.
This comes a day after he said he expected the conflict to end sooner than it would otherwise have done, once Donald Trump takes office as the President of United States next year.
Trump has criticised the scale of US military and financial support for Ukraine.
There have not been any concrete agreement between Russia and Ukraine on ending the war, however a Trump presidency raises questions about the future of the conflict, with the incoming President repeatedly assuring that he will end the war swiftly, without disclosing his strategy.
“We have to understand what the Russians want,” Zelensky said.
Referring to Ukraine, he said: “You are at war with a state that does not value its people, that has a lot of equipment, that does not care how many people die.”
On his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that he will only accept talks with Ukraine if Kyiv agrees to surrender Ukrainian territory that Moscow occupies.
Russian authorities said Putin during a telephone conversation that lasted for an hour with German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz on Friday also repeated the same demand.
This demand however does not sit will with Kyiv as Zelensky has rejected the conditions.
Moscow has made steady advances in eastern Ukraine since this summer, inching closer to key hubs such as Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
Zelensky said on Saturday that Russian forces were suffering heavy losses and that the advance had “slowed down” in some areas.
Last week, Ukraine confirmed the receipt of bodies of 563 soldiers from Russian, mainly troops who lost their lives in combat in the eastern Donetsk region.
“The bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on social media.
