Zelensky Says He Would Accept Freezing the War Along Current Front Line

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would agree to a peace deal that freezes the war along the current front line, calling it a realistic way to end the conflict. He made the remarks in an interview with Fox News on October 21.

"Yes. We have to freeze it now, and I think that is a realistic way to end this war," Zelensky said. "We call it a ceasefire, or a halt to the killing, as President Trump says. Freeze and stop. And of course that is the minimum we want from Russia today."

Security guarantees and return of refugees

Zelensky said that after a freeze Ukraine would turn to the US president and to the Europeans and ask for security guarantees. "But the most important thing is peace. And security," he said.

He stressed that it was important not to fear that "occupation will return, aggression will return, killings will return" before they are stopped. "That is why a freeze of the conflict and negotiations. And security guarantees from the United States and help from our partners to restore our lives," he said. According to him, Ukraine needs the 9.5 million people who lost their homes and are now abroad to return, "just to live and to build their country."

Context

The interview came on the day Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg for about three hours, a day after Witkoff held talks with Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo. Putin told Witkoff that Russia is ready to resume trilateral talks in November; see our report on the St Petersburg meeting. After Oslo, Zelensky said the US had reaffirmed reliable security guarantees, as we reported.

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