By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is willing to “give up” his presidency in exchange for peace ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of his country.
“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,” the Ukrainian President said in response to a question during a press conference.
His comments came after US President Donald Trump called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” earlier in the week.
“I wasn’t offended by the comment, but a dictator would be,” Zelensky, who was democratically elected in May 2019, responded on Sunday.
Zelensky said he was currently focused on Ukraine’s security and that it was not his “dream” to remain president for a decade.
Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law, which has been in place since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
EU and world leaders are due to head to Kyiv on Monday to show their support for Ukraine and discuss security guarantees.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, European Council President António Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are among those expected to attend the meeting in person.
Zelensky said the topic of Ukraine joining NATO would be “on the table” at the meeting, but he did not know how the discussions would “finish”. He said he hoped the meeting would be a “turning point”.
On the topic of Trump, Zelensky said he wanted to see the US president as a partner to Ukraine and more than just a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow.
“I really want it to be more than just mediation… that’s not enough,” he told the press conference.
Zelensky was also asked about a potential deal the Trump administration has pushed for to provide the US with access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals.
“We are making progress,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukrainian and US officials had been in touch about the deal.
