Zelensky says Ukraine is closer to the end of the war with Russia

(Patria) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country is "closer to the end of the war" with Russia, according to excerpts of an interview with ABC News published on Monday, Reuters reported.

"I think we are closer to peace than we think," he said. "We are closer to the end of the war."

He called on Washington and other partners to continue supporting Ukraine. He said that Ukraine can only encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin "to stop the war" from a "strong position".

Zelensky traveled to the United States on Sunday to attend
the UN General Assembly sessions and called on his partners to help achieve
a "common victory for a truly just peace".

Putin says peace talks can only begin if Kyiv cedes parts of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and abandons its NATO membership ambitions. Zelensky has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of all Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine's post-Soviet borders.

On August 6, Kyiv launched a cross-border operation into Russia's western Kursk region. Ukraine says the action was partly aimed at preventing Russian forces in the area from launching their own cross-border incursion into Ukraine. Zelensky told ABC News that Putin fears the Kursk operation.

"He is very afraid," he said. "Why? Because his people have seen that he cannot defend - that he cannot defend all his territory."