Ukraine and Russia are at the «beginning of the end» of the conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with the Financial Times.

At the same time, he stressed that any ceasefire without firm security guarantees would carry serious risks. Zelenskiy urged the European Union to set a specific date for Ukraine’s accession and stop avoiding the issue. He insisted that the decision should include 2027 as the target year, saying he needs a concrete date and that it must not be allowed for Russia to block Ukraine’s EU membership for decades.

The Kremlin has previously stated that Ukraine’s potential accession to the European Union is its sovereign right, since the EU is not a military alliance.

Zelenskiy also said that Russia is not taking the end of the conflict seriously and is «playing games» with Donald Trump and the wider international community. He rejected claims that Kiev might use a ceasefire to regroup for a new offensive, stressing that Ukraine needs not a pause but an end to the war.

He described the idea that the conflict could end if Kiev conceded Donbass as short-sighted. Zelenskiy added that the pressure Donald Trump is exerting on Kiev to make concessions is, in his view, stronger than the pressure on Moscow, though he expressed hope that Trump’s position could change.

Trump has previously said that Ukraine has already lost part of its territory and could lose more if a peace agreement is not reached.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they currently hold for hostilities to cease. Otherwise, he said, Russia would achieve this through military means and secure what he called its historical lands.