November 21, 2025, 6:01 p.mNovember 21, 2025, 6:09 p.m
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In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned his compatriots “of one of the most difficult moments in the history of our country”. “Ukraine could be faced with a very difficult choice right now: either lose dignity or risk losing a key partner. Either the difficult 28 points (of the US peace plan) or an extremely difficult winter,” said the head of state on the “Day of Freedom and Dignity”, which commemorates the beginning of the pro-Western demonstrations in 2004 and 2013.
With regard to Washington’s peace initiative, he promised to work together with the USA on a solution and to propose alternatives. At the same time, he complained about considerable external pressure on the country. In the coming days, work will be carried out around the clock on every point of the plan, said Zelensky.
A little later he confirmed that he had discussed the plan in a conversation that lasted almost an hour with US Vice President JD Vance. “We have agreed that we will work together with America and Europe at an advisory level in order to have a truly workable path to peace,” the head of state wrote on social networks.
“We will not give the enemy any reason to say that Ukraine does not want peace, that it is sabotaging the process and is not ready for diplomacy,” the president assured. He is counting on the support of his “European friends”.
Zelenskyj calls for unity
He also called on the Ukrainian people for unity against the background of a major corruption scandal in his environment, in which his name was also mentioned. «We have to stick together. We have to find ourselves. We have to stop the arguments and the political games. “The state has to function,” emphasized Zelensky. Parliament and the government must do their work. At the same time, he said, as at the beginning of the war, not to give in to ultimatums.
Washington has confronted Kiev with a 28-point plan that should lead to an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has been going on since 2022. According to publications in several media outlets, the draft primarily envisages Ukrainian concessions to Russia, including territorial cessions, a withdrawal of Kiev’s troops from parts of eastern Ukraine, restrictions on the army and a legally binding waiver of NATO membership. (sda/dpa)