Zelensky Gives Blunt Response to When Ukraine's War Will End

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday had a straightforward answer when asked by journalists at his annual end-of-year press conference about when he expects the war against Russia to come to an end: "No one knows the answer."

"Even respected people, our commanders and our Western partners, who say that this is a war for many years, they do not know," Zelensky told reporters when asked if he anticipates the war to end in the new year.

Zelensky's briefing comes as the Russia-Ukraine conflict heads toward its second-year mark in February 2024 and as support for Kyiv has started to waver in Europe and the United States. The White House announced on Monday that President Joe Biden was planning on sending one more military aid package in 2023 to boost Ukraine's defense against Russia, but that further support would have to be agreed upon in Congress.

When asked about his failed attempt to secure additional funding while visiting Washington, D.C. last week, Zelensky still expressed faith in his Western allies, telling reporters, "I am confident that the United States will not betray us."

Newsweek reached out to Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry for additional comment.

Ukraine also came up empty-handed from a meeting among European Union members last week after Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán voted to block an additional aid package for Kyiv, which totaled about $52 billion. On Tuesday, Zelensky said that he is hoping to talk "solutions" with Orbán, according to a report by The Moscow Times.

Zelensky also acknowledged on Tuesday that the 2024 U.S. presidential election could impact U.S. support for Ukraine, noting that former President Donald Trump "will surely have a different policy" on the war than President Joe Biden. Western figures have previously expressed anxiety over Trump's potential reelection, including Czech Republic President Petr Pavel, who told Seznam Zprávy on Monday that the November 2024 election could cause a "significant shift" in the war and America's relationship with NATO members.

Kyiv's troops are currently facing their second winter in the war against Russia as brutal fighting carries on along the eastern and southern fronts, resulting in heavy losses on both sides. Zelensky floated an idea during Tuesday's speech from Ukraine's Armed Forces to mobilize an additional 400,000 to 500,000 people to boost Kyiv's military, but said that he "needed more arguments to support this idea" before a decision would be made.

Recent polling has shown that support for Zelensky is waning as the war presses forward. According to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), trust in Zelensky among the Ukrainian public dropped from 84 percent to 62 percent over the past year. Kyiv's parliament scored even lower, with only 15 percent of respondents indicating that they trusted their federal lawmakers.

At the same time, however, the KIIS survey found that trust in Ukraine's Armed Forces has remained steadfast among the public.

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