I am not going to resign. This war is my responsibility – Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has no intention of leaving office and described elections under the current wartime conditions as unrealistic.
He said this in an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Censor.NET reports.
On resignation
Morgan asked whether it was correct to understand that Zelenskyy was not going to resign.
"Certain influential people want to remove me from the presidency because I will never recognise Ukrainian land as Russian. Of course not. This war is my responsibility," the president replied.
Another president will defend Ukraine
Zelenskyy recalled that another president before him had also resisted Russia.
"By the way, when I became president, Crimea and part of Donbas were already occupied. And there was another — President Trump should know this — another president in my seat. And there was the ATO — the Anti-Terrorist Operation — for a long time. Quite a long time. Right up until the full-scale invasion. This means that removing me — of course, that is a decision for our people, not Trump, not Musk, not anyone else (and generally, this is not a question of who is president) — I mean that removing me [will not change the situation — ed.]. I am sure that a new man or woman [as president — ed.] will defend our country, because this is our home. How could you do otherwise [than defend the country — ed.]?" the Ukrainian president said.
He added that the question might be whether someone could do it better or worse, but "they will do it", because "in any case, we are talking about a Ukrainian president".
Why elections cannot be held
The journalist noted that elections were supposed to take place in 2024 but were not held because of the war, that many Ukrainians had left the country and that even more were fighting on the front line. He asked whether the elections Trump was calling for were possible.
According to Zelenskyy, there is no realistic chance — only 10%.
"Of course not. No way. We face attacks every hour. The massive attack we discussed happened at night, but it is the same during the day: hundreds and thousands of Shahed drones every hour. So, from a security standpoint, elections cannot be held. And the soldiers on the front line… We cannot elect a president without the soldiers, because they have given and continue to give their lives. They must be the first to vote, and I believe that is fair," he explained.
Asked whether he believed the Ukrainian people were on his side, Zelenskyy answered in the affirmative.
"Yes, of course. I am certain that we, all Ukrainians, are on the same side. We have only one enemy — Russia," the president said.
- He added that ending the war was also in the interests of Russians themselves, who, he said, also wanted a future but did not understand how to live with such a leader. Zelenskyy asked who would provide security guarantees even if someone wanted to take a step back.
