G7 backs Ukraine as Zelenskyy says he wants to end war next year

Ukraine’s president says Kyiv will do everything possible so war against Russia’s invading forces ends in 2025 ‘through diplomatic means’.

Leaders of the G7 alliance have reaffirmed support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes” as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants to end the war through talks next year.

The Ukrainian president said in a radio interview aired on Saturday that his side will do everything possible so that the war with Russia’s invading forces ends in 2025 “through diplomatic means”.

The previous day, he said that the re-election of Donald Trump as United States president means that the war will likely end “sooner” than it otherwise would have.

Trump has said he wants to end the war immediately and Vice President-elect JD Vance has suggested that a Trump administration could favour letting Russia keep the Ukrainian land it has seized on the battlefield. But Zelenskyy said he “didn’t hear anything that goes against our position” when he spoke with Trump earlier this month.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will only accept an agreement if it sees Kyiv surrender the Ukrainian territory it has lost during the war.