Zelenskyy: after ceasefire there will be a short window of opportunity to end the war
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- Alona Kokhanchuk
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10:14, 26 March, 2025
Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: Presidential AdministrationPresident of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Ukraine will have a short time frame from the beginning of the ceasefire to the conclusion of an agreement to end the war with Russia. This is because Russia may violate the agreements.
This opinion was expressed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Time magazine.
«Since 2014, they (Russians, — note) have been constantly violating the peace. This is how I see it. They will violate it all the time. That's why the window of opportunity is very short between the moment we have a ceasefire and the moment we reach an agreement to end the war. It has to be a very short period. One month, two, three, and that's it. After that, the question of morale in the army will arise. We have 800,000 armed people», he said.
At the same time, Volodymyr Zelenskyy clarified that the matter «is not only about finances», because «if we do not have an agreement to end the war, it becomes a frozen conflict».
«And we cannot continue to live in a state of war. We need to open the borders. We need to liberalise many things. And we can do this if we sign the agreement», Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
In his opinion, if the period between the ceasefire and the final peace agreement is not long, there will be only isolated ceasefire violations, and this «will not be a complete collapse».
«But if the process drags on, then everything will fall apart many times over. And we don't know how it will end», he added.
As a reminder, following the talks in Saudi Arabia on 23-25 March, the US, Russia and Ukraine agreed to ensure the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, avoid the use of force and not use commercial vessels for military purposes.
However, Russia has since put forward additional demands, including the easing of sanctions against its agricultural sector.
US President Donald Trump said that the US side would consider these conditions to agree to a ceasefire in the Black Sea.
Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe said that the Ukrainian military would not stop fighting, even if they were left without weapons, until they had acceptable conditions for a lasting peace.