The imposition of full sanctions against Russia and strong security guarantees for Ukraine are necessary to put a quick end to the war. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the British television channel ITV News, quoted by "Ukrinform".
"Of course, we want it very much. Frankly, every year we would like our Western partners to have the power to force Putin to end the war. In fact, I think that now there are all possibilities for this. In my opinion, Trump wants a quick end to the war." This was Zelensky's response to a question about whether the war could end in 2025.
At the same time, he stressed that the Americans and Europeans must act together to end the war.
"We are talking about sanctions. The sanctions were imposed thanks to our partners. Although these measures had a negative impact on the Russian economy, it was able to adapt to certain sanctions. Because there have always been gaps: sanctions were imposed, for example, on banks, but not on all banks. Sanctions were imposed on agriculture, but the shadow fleet continues to operate. Now sanctions have been imposed on the shadow fleet, and we are grateful to our partners, especially Great Britain, for this, but again not on all their ships. And we are talking about hundreds, not dozens of ships," the president noted.
Zelensky concluded that the sanctions should be total and that as a result, "a collapse may occur in Russia."
"Everyone sees it, everyone understands it, but not everyone does it," he said.
He also emphasized that the second component of a lasting and just peace is security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelensky expressed his belief that US President Donald Trump will make every effort to end the war this year.
Trump will soon meet with both Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but the dates and details of the meetings are still being clarified.