'We want the end of the war -- not the end of Ukraine,' Zelensky says in New Year address (Kyiv Independent)

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https://kyivindependent.com/we-want-the-end-of-the-war-not-the-end-of-ukraine-zelensky-says-in-new-year-address/

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is doing everything possible to achieve peace but will not accept a deal that compromises the country’s survival, in a New Year address delivered from Kyiv.

"We want the end of the war — not the end of Ukraine," Zelensky said, adding that Ukrainians are exhausted but not prepared to surrender.

"Does that mean we are ready to surrender? Those who think so are deeply mistaken," he added. "And clearly, over all these years, they still have not understood who Ukrainians are. A people who have held on through 1,407 days of a full-scale war. Just take in that number. That is longer than the Nazi occupation of many of our cities during World War II."

Zelensky said a peace agreement is "90 percent ready," but warned that the remaining issues are decisive. "Those 10% contain, in fact, everything," he said, calling them "the ten percent that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe."

He stressed that Russia has shown no genuine desire to end the war voluntarily: "Russia does not end its wars on its own. Only pressure from others — only coercion from others (works)."

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