Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted he is ready to work under Donald Trump’s ‘strong leadership’ and wants to ‘make things right’ after their ‘regrettable’ White House row.
The wartime leader today said in a post to X that he was keen to agree on a truce in the sky and sea ‘immediately, if Russia will do the same.’
Last night, Trump’s administration said it was pausing all military aid following a major spat in the White House last week.
In the wake of this, senior British government sources warned that Zelensky‘s position may be untenable without access to American military aid.
An anonymous senior official told The Times that Ukraine could ‘last a matter of months, maybe less’ unless the flow of support from Washington resumes.
The Ukrainian leader was kicked out of the White House last week without signing the much-needed minerals deal after he and Trump got into a blistering shouting match in the Oval Office.
As fears mount that Kyiv could not sustain itself without US support, Zelensky made a dramatic climb down on X today. ‘Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right.’
He emphasised: ‘None of us wants an endless war.Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) has called for a truce in the sky and sea
Zelensky and Trump got into a heated war of words in the Oval Office late last month
Ukraine has been devastated by war since February 2022
‘My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.
‘We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.
‘Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.
‘We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this.
‘Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right.
‘We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format.
‘We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.’
Zelensky’s climb-down came after Trump said today in a post to Truth Social that ‘tomorrow night will be big’, without explicitly saying what he was announcing.
An emergency psychologist assists a resident who reacts at the site of Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine in this handout picture released March 4, 2025
Firefighters work to control a fire in a location given as Odesa, Ukraine, after a Russian drone attack damaged energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, triggering power cuts in the city and knocking out heating systems, according to local officials, in this handout image released on March 4, 2025
The site of a damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack amid the ongoing Russian invasion in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 2 2025
He added in a later post: ‘The only President who gave none of Ukraine’s land to Putin’s Russia is President Donald J. Trump.
‘Remember that when the weak and ineffective Democrat’s [sic] criticize, and the Fake News gladly puts out anything they say!’
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘steadfast commitment to securing peace’ in a call with the Ukrainian leader, Downing Street has said.
The PM’s deputy spokesperson said: ‘We remain absolutely committed to securing a lasting peace in Ukraine.
‘We’re engaging with key allies in support of this effort. It’s the right thing to do, and is in our interest to do, and our immediate focus remains putting Ukraine in the position of strength and bringing the US and Ukraine together for the benefits of our collective security.’
Earlier, an anonymous senior UK government official told The Times that Ukraine could ‘last a matter of months, maybe less’ unless the flow of support from Washington resumes.
‘The Ukrainians are already living hand to mouth,’ the source told the newspaper.
‘Any delay in the supply of GPS-guided missiles, Himars, artillery and air defence missiles will be a serious problem for them. They can last a matter of months, maybe less.’
Damaged vehicles stand at the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine in this handout picture released March 4, 2025
A view shows the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine in this handout picture released March 4, 2025
They stressed the importance of Zelensky ‘building up a relationship’ with Donald Trump and JD Vance in the wake of a growing spat that led to the U.S. ceasing all aid to Ukraine on Monday.
Another source warned that Zelensky’s current position may become ‘untenable’ as the Ukrainians ‘cannot hold the line without U.S. support’.
And Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko, former first deputy of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told Al Jazeera last month ‘we will last six months’ without American military aid.
He added that he didn’t believe Europe had the capacity to step up in America’s place.
Nikolai Mitrokhin, a researcher at the University of Bremen (Germany), backed this up, saying that that current US supplies if used sparingly, could not last beyond ‘mid-summer’ or ‘autumn.’
RUSI fellow Samuel Ramani said on X: ‘Zelensky’s new statement showcases Ukraine’s willingness to work with the US on peace and to revive the mineral deal.
‘It weaves in the sea/sky truce proposed by France and still seems to link the mineral deal to security guarantees.’
In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper on Sunday, Macron proposed a month-long truce ‘in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure’. It would not cover ground fighting along the front line in the east, he said, as ‘it would be very difficult to verify [a truce] along the front was being respected.’
In a separate interview, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said: ‘Such a truce on air, sea and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce. And that’s when real peace negotiations could start.’
But French prime minister François Bayrou today said that the US suspending weapons aid to Ukraine in the middle of the war signalled that the US is ‘abandoning’ Ukraine.
Bayrou also said it would allow Russia ‘to win’, adding that it is now Europe’s responsibility to replace American weapon deliveries as ‘quickly and efficiently as possible so that Ukraine does not crack’.
But Trump’s American allies have begun backing Zelensky’s move.
US Senator Lindsey Graham, who earlier suggested Zelensky should resign following the spat, wrote on X: ‘Better days are ahead.’
He posted his message with a thumbs-up emoji.
Trump (pictured) last night said he was suspending US military aid to Ukraine
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28
Servicemen of the mobile fire group of the Ukrainian 113th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade return from a combat position in the Volchansk direction, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on February 22, 2025
Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade, named after King Danylo, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire an M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops in a front line near the town of Chasiv Yar in Ukraine February 28, 2025
The Kremlin has not yet responded to the statement.
Zelensky’s statement came after US president Donald Trump announced he was pausing all military aid to Ukraine following a bitter spat in the White House, in which the two world leaders shouted over each other.
The spat capped weeks of escalating tensions between the two leaders, after Trump called his Ukrainian counterpart a ‘dictator’ and Zelensky said the Republican had succumbed to Russian ‘disinformation’.
The major minerals deal, which would see Ukraine hand over rights to vast rare earth minerals to the US, was supposed to be inked in Washington last week before Zelensky was kicked out of the White House after the public row with Trump.
A White House spokesperson said last night: ‘The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.’
The Kremlin praised Trump’s move, with government spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: ‘It is obvious that the United States has been the main supplier of this war so far. If the United States stops being (an arms supplier) or suspends these supplies, it will probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.’
But it sparked fury in Ukraine, wider Europe and the United States, with critics accusing Trump of appeasement and warning ‘thousands will die’ as a result of the latest ‘shock’ twist in U.S. foreign policy.
This morning, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a ‘Rearm Europe’ plan that could unlock up to €800billion (£661.59billion) in additional defence spending over the coming years.
The plans, sent to national governments earlier today, would include the ability for EU countries to draw on up to €150billion in loans.
The European Commission leader said today: ‘Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending, both to respond to the short term urgency to act and to support Ukraine, but also to address the long term need to take on more responsibility for our own European security.’
It is not currently clear how Zelensky’s appeal for a partial truce would affect the Rearm Europe plans.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko told Sky News the ‘pause’ in aid would create a ‘catastrophic situation’ in Ukraine and ’embolden Putin‘, making ‘things worse for everyone’.
The site of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine March 4, 2025
The site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine in this handout picture released March 4, 2025
‘I understand we have a crisis in relationships right now after Friday’s meeting in the Oval Office, but I just want to ask Donald Trump to reconsider… maybe just give us some time to get out of this because this is catastrophic for us,’ he said.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the BBC the move ‘came as a shock’ to Ukraine.
‘At the surface it looks like a disastrous decision, especially right now. We are in desperate need of American … support.
‘To suspend military aid to Ukraine it looks like siding with Russia and it’s extremely dangerous.’
He said ‘as far as I know’ the suspension also includes air defence systems, which have been vital in protecting civilians from Russia’s bombardment of population centres.
‘To stop aid now means to help (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,’ he told Reuters.
‘On the surface, this looks really bad. It looks like he is pushing us towards capitulation, meaning (accepting) Russia’s demands.’
He added: ‘This is worse than Munich, because at least there they didn’t try to paint Czechoslovakia as the aggressor, but here they try to accuse the victim of aggression – it is extremely dangerous.’
More to follow.
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