Zelenskiy: We supported American peace proposals to reach an agreement on peace

(Patria) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Kyiv sought to support American peace proposals to end the war with Russia, Reuters reported.

Zelenskiy, in an interview published yesterday by The Atlantic, said that Kyiv is ready to hold both presidential elections and a referendum on the agreement, but would not settle for an agreement that is detrimental to Ukraine's interests.

“The tactic we chose is that the Americans do not think we want to continue the war,” Zelenskiy said.

“That is why we started supporting their proposals in any format that speeds things up.”

He said that Ukraine “is not afraid of anything. Are we ready for elections? We are ready. Are we ready for a referendum? We are ready.”

Zelenskiy has been trying to build good relations with Washington since a meeting in the Oval Office in February 2025 turned into an argument with Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance.

But, he said, he rejected the proposal, reported this week by the Financial Times, to hold the vote on February 24, the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion. A ceasefire and proposed US security guarantees against future invasion have not yet been agreed upon, he said.

“No one is clinging to power,” he was quoted as saying by The Atlantic.

“I am ready for elections. But for that, we need security, security guarantees, a ceasefire.”

And he added: “I don’t think we should put a bad deal to a referendum.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Zelenskiy is not a legitimate negotiating partner because he has not held elections since coming to power in 2019.

Zelenskiy has said in recent weeks that a document on security guarantees for Ukraine is almost ready for signing.

But, in his statements, he admitted that details remain unresolved, including whether the United States would be willing to shoot down incoming missiles over Ukraine if Russia violated the peace.

“This has not been resolved yet,” Zelenskiy said.

“We raised this issue and will continue to ask it... It is necessary for all of this to be written down.”