Kyiv: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said that he was willing to step down if it meant peace in Ukraine.

His remark came days after US President Donald Trump questioned his legitimacy and called him a “dictator without elections”, echoing a Kremlin talking point.

At the same time, Zelensky continued to push back against Trump’s insistence that he sign a minerals deal that Ukraine says is unpalatable. And he announced a meeting on Monday of over 30 countries in person or online as a kind of coalition of support for Ukraine’s war effort.

It was not immediately clear whether Zelensky had seriously considered the option of stepping down or was merely responding to the latest jabs from Washington and Moscow. He added that he could trade his departure for Ukraine’s entry into Nato — a highly unlikely scenario given Trump’s opposition to allowing Ukraine into the military alliance.

“If it brings peace to Ukraine, and if you need me to step down — I am ready,” Zelensky said during a news conference on Sunday, on the eve of the third anniversary of the war. “Second, I can exchange this for Nato.”

For now, Zelensky said, Ukraine and the US remain locked in negotiations over
a deal to trade Ukraine’s minerals and other natural resources for American aid. Zelensky said he was still not ready to sign the US’s latest proposal, which would require Ukraine to pay the US $500 billion using revenues from its natural resources.

“I am not signing something that will be paid by ten generations of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said, noting that negotiations would continue.

New York Times News Service