Ukraine wants conflict with Russia to end this year – foreign minister
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga has claimed that stronger Western pressure on Russia could bring the conflict to an end this year.
Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland on Monday, Sibiga said that “Ukrainian resilience is not the reason for endless war. We want to end this war this year.”
He urged Ukraine’s foreign backers to make continued hostilities “dangerous personally” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for additional economic sanctions to be imposed under US leadership.
Sibiga also repeated Kiev’s demand that Putin meet directly with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, adding that “the outcome of this meeting should be [a] ceasefire.”
Moscow has said it is willing to engage Zelensky in person if talks are properly prepared to yield results, but has rejected the idea of a simple ceasefire, arguing it would only allow Kiev to rebuild its forces and resume fighting later. Russian officials have said a diplomatic path towards achieving its security objectives is preferable.
Sibiga stated that Ukrainian expectations have been boosted by “positive signals” from US President Donald Trump, who met Zelensky in New York earlier this month. In contrast with his previous remarks, Trump has claimed that with European funding, Ukraine’s military could achieve its territorial goals.
Zelensky has interpreted Trump’s remarks as a commitment of continued US support, although others have suggested that the president is shifting responsibility to European NATO allies to avoid being blamed for a possible Ukrainian defeat.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas responded that Trump “was the one who promised to stop the killing,” adding, “it can’t be on us.”
