As Russia still seeks to expand its occupation of Ukrainian territory, Ukraine's Zelenskyy said Russia's Putin "doesn’t want to end the war," during an online press conference on 18 December 2025 attended by Euromaidan Press. He questioned whether Putin can afford to continue the war and stressed that pressure from Ukraine’s partners will determine the outcome.
At a December 17 meeting of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Russia’s maximalist war aims in Ukraine, which Moscow has sought to impose through its full-scale invasion launched in 2022. He again emphasized Russia’s wider territorial ambitions, threatening military action to seize what he called “historical lands” if talks fail. Zelenskyy: The issue is not peace, it’s to make Putin stop the warResponding to a question about Putin’s 17 December speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said,
“The signals Putin gives are absolutely not new to us.” He reiterated, “I always said he doesn’t want to end the war,” adding, “The question is whether he can continue it.”
Zelenskyy stressed that this depends on international support of Ukraine:
“It depends on our partners, their pressure. Sanctions-wise first of all, and diplomacy-wise.”
He said the US claims Putin is open to ending the war “both publicly and in non-public format.”
Explore further Putin confirms Russia still wants all of Ukraine and won’t be satisfied with US-proposed peace plan, ISW saysUkraine supports American diplomatic efforts, Zelenskyy noted, but “we do not agree with all aspects of possible future agreements.”
He listed points of contention:
“We have issues, we have some disagreements on the territorial issue, financing, frozen assets, and other unresolved matters.”
Still, Zelenskyy doubted that Russia’s economy can handle war at previous scale:
“I don’t think Putin’s economy is capable of continuing this war in the volumes it used to.”
He added that if sanctions work and the US stays “honest” and “open,” Moscow will feel it.
On diplomacy, he said,
Read also“If Putin now slows down this diplomatic wave — and now it is the biggest in recent times — then the US will put more pressure on them. We’ll see.”
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