Important statements from Zelenskyy on the future of the war: 'Peace must be made before autumn ends'
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has asked countries supporting Ukraine to double their pressure on Moscow. In his statement, Zelenskyy indicated that the war should end by the autumn.
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Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy has called on NATO countries to pressure Russia this autumn to accept Kyiv's peace terms. In his speech at a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Zelenskyy called for sufficient international pressure to be exerted on Russia to impose peace terms and prevent the war from dragging on.
Zelenskyy also called on Western countries to help organize the production of critical weapons for defense, including drones and missiles, on Ukrainian soil.
According to a report by the Russian news site RTNews, Zelenskyy said, 'We need funding to achieve this. We are ready to quickly produce everything that will help us end this war; decisive pressure must be applied to Russia for a real peace.'
Zelenskyy also stated the following:
'Let us turn this autumn into a time when Russian aggression diminishes; let us end the war and restore a reliable international security order.'
US Secretary of Defense Austin emphasized the importance of weapons production, stating that the US is 'working with Ukraine to design and produce a system to replace S-300 surface-to-air and R-27 air-to-air missile systems.' Austin said that Washington has allocated more than 200 million dollars to purchase 'critical components' to enable Ukraine to produce drones and electronic warfare systems.
According to RT's report, Kyiv has faced many setbacks on the battlefield in recent months; the Russian source RT claims that Russian troops are making steady progress in the Donbass and are advancing toward the city of Pokrovsk. This claim is also corroborated by the international war monitoring organization ISW.
In hopes of forcing Moscow to recall most of its troops from the Donbass, Ukraine launched an offensive into Russia's Kursk Region on August 6 and captured several villages and the border town of Sudzha. However, the advance of Russian troops in Ukraine has not stopped.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a press statement this week that the Ukrainian army had weakened its positions on other fronts by sending its best-equipped and experienced troops to Kursk. He added that Russian forces have increased their progress in the Donbass.
Peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv failed in the spring of 2022. Moscow had stated that Zelenskyy's demand for Ukraine to return to its 1991 borders was completely unacceptable.
Speaking on Monday, Putin said that Russia is ready to restart peace talks, but only if its own terms are met. Putin emphasized that Moscow must first neutralize Ukraine's attempts to destabilize the situation in Kursk and other border regions.