Ukraine’s Zelensky rules out a cease-fire, saying Russia would use it to rearm
TALLINN, Estonia — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday ruled out a cease-fire in his country’s war with Russia, saying the Kremlin’s forces would use the pause to rearm and regroup before overwhelming Kyiv’s troops.
“A pause on the Ukrainian battlefield will not mean a pause in the war,” Zelensky said during a visit to Estonia.
“A pause would play into [Russia’s] hands,” he said. “It might crush us afterward.”
Limited cease-fires have occasionally been proposed since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 but have never taken hold.
Both sides are scrambling to replenish their weapons after 22 months of fighting and with the prospect of a protracted conflict. With the front line mostly static during freezing winter weather, they both require artillery shells, missiles and drones that enable long-range strikes.
Zelensky said Moscow is buying artillery shells and missiles from North Korea and drones from Iran. On Jan. 4, the White House cited U.S. intelligence officials as saying that Russia had acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and was seeking them from Iran.
Russian President Putin appears to hope military pressure, changes in Western politics and focus on Israeli-Hamas war will drain support for Ukraine.
Zelensky was in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, as part of a two-day swing through Baltic countries, which have been among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. Some people in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscow’s next target.
He met with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who gave him a shirt with the Estonian word “kaitsetahe” — “the will to defend” — printed on the front, which Zelensky wore as he addressed the Parliament.
“Tyranny must be defeated. Tyranny must be a loser,” Zelensky said. “Always. Always. Always.”
Zelensky said he and Kallas also discussed Ukrainians who fled to Estonia when the war began, saying at a news conference that any of them who are of draft age “need to help Ukraine and be in Ukraine.”
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war under a deal sponsored by the United Arab Emirates
His comments came as lawmakers in Kyiv returned a draft law on mobilization to the government for amendments, saying it might contain human rights violations, among other concerns, officials said.
The draft law aims to impose restrictions on citizens who have evaded mobilization duties, as Ukraine grapples with shortages of military personnel.
Zelensky said last month that Ukraine’s military wants to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops, but he said he had asked military leaders to spell out the details on what is “a very sensitive matter” before he decided whether to grant their wish.
The Ukrainian president is pressing allies to provide his country with more support, after already receiving billions of dollars in military aid from its Western allies.
A Ukrainian air force official says Russia’s recent escalation of aerial attacks is posing a challenge to his country’s air defense resources.
“Ukraine needs more. It needs better weapons,” Estonian President Alar Karis said during a joint news conference with Zelensky at the presidential palace.
“We must boost military production capabilities so that Ukraine may get what it needs,” he said. “And it’s not tomorrow — they should get it today.”
Karis noted that European Union countries have so far provided $93 billion in support for Ukraine.
But the flow of support has slowed, alarming Ukrainians who would find it hard to stand alone against their bigger neighbor.
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A plan by the Biden administration to send $60 billion in new funding to Kyiv is being held up in Congress. Europe’s pledge in March to provide 1 million artillery shells within 12 months has fallen short, with only about 300,000 delivered so far.
Zelensky says Ukraine particularly needs air defense systems to fend off Russian aerial onslaughts that have repeatedly hit civilian areas, though Moscow insists they are aimed only at military targets.
Recent massive Russian barrages — more than 500 drones and missiles were fired between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2, according to officials in Kyiv — are using up Ukraine’s air defense resources and leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.
Zelensky won a pledge of more support from Lithuania on Wednesday, and was heading to Latvia after Estonia.
As conflicts rage abroad, a fractured Congress tries to rally support for historic global challenges
With support for Ukraine slipping in Congress, the United States is once again struggling to assert its role in the world.
The small Baltic countries are among Ukraine’s staunchest political, financial and military supporters. Some people in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscow’s next target.
The three countries were seized and annexed by Josef Stalin during World War II and regained independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. They joined NATO in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the U.S. and its Western allies.
A Russian S-300 missile hit a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, late Wednesday, injuring 13 people including a Turkish journalist, regional Gov. Oleh Sinegubov said. The city has been attacked for four consecutive nights, the governor said.
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