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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his New Year’s address to the nation, said late on Wednesday that Kyiv wanted the war to end, but not at any cost, adding he would not sign a “weak” peace agreement that would only prolong the war.
Seated in his office, with a festive tree in the background, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians were exhausted from nearly four years of war — longer than the German occupation of many Ukrainian cities during the Second World War. But he said they were not prepared to give up.
“What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At any cost? No. We want an end to the war but not  the end of Ukraine,” said Zelenskyy, wearing a dark green embroidered Ukrainian shirt, in his 21-minute address issued just before midnight in Ukraine.
“Are we tired? Very. Does this mean we are ready to surrender? Anyone who thinks so is deeply mistaken.”
Zelenskyy said any signature “placed on weak agreements only fuel the war.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is denying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s claim that Ukraine tried to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia.
“My signature will be placed on a strong agreement. And that is exactly what every meeting, every phone call, every decision is about now,” he said.
“To secure a strong peace for everyone, not for a day, a week or two months, but peace for years.”
Zelenskyy said weeks of U.S.-led diplomacy, including his talks last weekend with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida, had produced a peace deal that was nearly ready.
“A peace agreement is 90 per cent ready, 10 per cent remains,” he said. “That 10 per cent contains everything, it is the 10 per cent that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe and how people will live.”
A damaged apartment is seen following a Russian attack in Odesa, southern Ukraine, on Wednesday. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP/Getty Images)
Stumbling block in deal
The main stumbling block to completing a deal is the issue of who will control what parts of Ukraine’s territory.
Russia holds about 19 per cent of Ukraine’s territory in the south and east, but Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from parts of the eastern Donbas region that Moscow’s forces have failed to capture.
Kyiv wants the map frozen at the current battle lines, and Zelenskyy dismissed Russian demands for a complete withdrawal from the Donbas as “deception.”
“Does anyone still believe them? Unfortunately, yes,” he said. “Because too often the truth is avoided and called diplomacy when in fact it is simply lies dressed up in business suits.”
Zelenskyy also met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax last weekend, when Carney announced that Ottawa has pledged another $2.5 billion in economic aid for Ukraine.
“Under President Zelenskyy’s leadership, we have the conditions, the possibility of a just and lasting peace,” Carney told reporters on Saturday.