Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to give up his position to bring peace, saying it could be in exchange for his country joining NATO.
Zelenskyy was speaking on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of his country, amid mounting pressure from Washington to engage in peace talks.
"If there is peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready.... I can exchange it for NATO," Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv, adding he would depart "immediately" if necessary.
Following a bruising week in which he had a public rift with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, Zelenskyy also said he wanted Trump to visit Ukraine and that he was "grateful" for American support during the war.
"I want very much mutual understanding with Trump," Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv, adding: "Security guarantees from Trump are much needed."
However, Zelenskyy also questioned a figure of $500 billion in U.S. support quoted by Trump, saying the real figure was closer to $100 billion. He said he would not recognize previous U.S. grants as loans.
Transatlantic Cracks
His comments come amid concerns of cracks in the transatlantic alliance as Washington held high-level direct talks with Moscow.
In the past week, U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized Zelenskyy and suggested he was responsible for starting the conflict -- although he later walked back these comments in an interview on Fox News radio, stating Zelenskyy should not have allowed Russia to attack.
Zelenskyy, for his part, had caused anger in Washington by stating that Trump lived in "a disinformation bubble."
Trump has also suggested Zelenskyy might not be needed in peace talks and called for access to Ukrainian mineral wealth as compensation for U.S. aid provided so far.
Trump aide Steve Witkoff told CNN on February 23 that he expected the deal to be signed this week. Zelenskyy said it needed to include security guarantees for Ukraine, and that a deployment of U.S. troops in his country would be logical.
European Diplomacy
European leaders have joined Zelenskyy in voicing fears over the dangers of Western disunity -- and of their countries being left out of talks on ending the war.
While other Western leaders head to Kyiv on February 24, French President Emmanuel Macron will fly in the opposite direction for talks with Trump in Washington. He'll be followed later in the week by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Both men will seek to find common ground with Trump on next steps.
"Nobody wants the bloodshed to continue. Nobody, least of all the Ukrainians," Starmer told a party conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on February 23.
"But after everything that they have suffered, after everything that they have fought for, there could be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine must have a long-term secure future."
Starmer repeated his pledge that Britain would be prepared to provide boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peace deal. European leaders have held hastily convened discussions on the subject in recent days in another reflection of their concern that Washington is cooling on further support.
In a further sign of support for Kyiv, British Foreign Secretary Daniel Lammy said on February 23 that his country would announce its largest package of sanctions on Russia to coincide with the three-year anniversary.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in messianic terms to justify his invasion of Ukraine, on the eve of the third anniversary of his forces' full-scale assault.
"Fate willed it so, God willed it so," he said at an event in Moscow on February 23 with soldiers who fought in Ukraine.
This is not the first time Putin has used such language to justify Russia's aggression against Ukraine. In 2014, he defended his country's illegal seizure of Crimea by saying the peninsula had a "sacred meaning" for Russia, comparing it to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities reported their country had come under its largest-ever drone attack from Russia overnight on February 22-23. Reports of casualties were gradually coming in from across the nation.
The attacks further underlined Ukraine's vulnerabilities as well as its reliance on U.S. military assistance. Speaking to Current Time in recent days, military analysts said air defense was a key area where Kyiv relied on Washington.
"All other [military supplies] can be found in Europe. In some way, European help can replace American help. But air defense -- this is the key area," said Oleksiy Alshanskiy from Conflict Intelligence Team.
