Zelensky in his New Year address: We want war to end, not Ukraine to end

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine above all seeks peace, but not at the cost of its statehood.

Zelensky said this in his New Year address, Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Let us begin with the most important thing. What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At any cost? No. We want the end of the war – not the end of Ukraine. Are we tired? Extremely. Does that mean we are ready to surrender? Those who think so are deeply mistaken," Zelensky said.

He recalled that the Ukrainian people have been holding on for 1,407 days of a full-scale war. This is longer than the Nazi occupation of many Ukrainian cities during World War II.

Zelensky emphasized that Russians are now trying to mislead the world and urged not to follow the aggressor's lead.

"Withdraw from Donbas, and everything will be over. That is how deception sounds when translated from Russian – into Ukrainian, into English, into German, into French, and, in fact, into any language in the world. Does anyone still believe them? Unfortunately. Because too often, the truth is still avoided and called diplomacy, though in reality it is simply lies in suits. That is why there is pressure on Ukraine," he noted.

According to him, Ukraine constantly has to prove seemingly obvious truths: that after the occupation of Crimea, the seizure of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the full-scale invasion on February 24, after Bucha, Mariupol, Olenivka, and everything the Kremlin has been doing all this time, "taking them at their word is nothing less than a verdict."

"Of course, more than anything else right now, we want peace. But unlike New Year's snow, it will not simply fall from the sky as a miracle. But we believe in peace, we fight for it, and we work for it. And we will continue to do so. Because in 2026, we truly want that the skies be calm and the land peaceful; that warmth and light fill our homes – and not 170, but the full 220, as it should be; that all our people return home – from the front, from captivity, from occupation; that we stand; that Ukraine stands," he concluded.

As reported earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky said that in the context of the peace process, documents will already be ready for signing in January.