Europe

Home page

Europe

Zelenskiy says Ukraine needs US support for diplomacy to end war with Russia

04 March 2025 03:10 (UTC +04:00)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Kyiv was committed to intensive diplomacy to bring a rapid end to the three-year-old war with Russia and stressed that he hoped to be able to rely on U.S. support in securing peace, APA reports citing Reuters.

Zelenskiy issued a series of statements, three days after his White House meeting with U.S. Donald Trump descended into acrimonious exchanges, underscoring the need for urgent diplomacy and the importance of U.S. backing for them.

Zelenskiy's statements came after Trump suggested his patience was running out with the Ukrainian leader, following an AP report that quoted Zelenskiy saying at the weekend that the end of the war was "very, very far away".

Zelenskiy had been attending a weekend meeting of Ukraine's European allies devoted to working out a plan for a settlement of the war - two days after the White House row.

"It is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible," Zelenskiy initially wrote on X.

"We are working together with America and our European partners and very much hope for U.S. support on the path to peace. Peace is needed as soon as possible."

Since the heated exchanges in the White House, Zelenskiy has gone out of his way to stress that relations with Washington are a priority and that he is sure they can be put right.

Ukraine's parliament added its support on Monday for diplomacy and solid ties with Washington with a statement describing Trump's peacekeeping efforts as "decisive".

In subsequent comments on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskiy stressed unity between Ukraine and its partners, including the United States, following a telephone call with the leaders of the three Baltic states, which support Ukraine but did not attend Sunday's summit of European nations in London.

Zelenskiy said he filled them in on the outcome of the meeting and repeated that Ukraine needed security guarantees as part of any settlement of the conflict.