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Volodymyr Zelensky has bowed to intense pressure from Donald Trump after the US suspended military aid to Kyiv, meaning Ukraine will run out of vital long-range defence missiles within days.
He called the pair’s explosive White House meeting “regrettable” and pledged to enter peace talks as he desperately tried to salvage the perilous situation facing his armed forces.
Mr Zelensky also proposed a possible peace plan to end the war, including the release of prisoners and a ban on missiles and drones, and said he would sign a deal giving the US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
The move came just hours after the US announced it was “pausing and reviewing” military aid to the country, with sources telling The Independent that Ukraine’s supplies of US Patriot missiles could leave it unable to defend itself in a matter of days.
Mr Trump’s decision to pause aid came after he strongly criticised Mr Zelensky for suggesting peace was still “very, very, far away”.
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” said Mr Zelensky in his message on X. “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”
He also offered options for truce while committing to signing the minerals deals wanted by the US in exchange for aid.
“We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.
“Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.”
Mr Zelensky added: “Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Mr Zelensky on Tuesday and welcomed the statement. The attempt at reconciliation was just hours before Mr Trump was to deliver a speech to Congress.
Mr Zelensky’s move came as the scale of the danger in country is in became increasingly apparent, with multiple sources telling The Independent that US Patriot missile supplies to defend air attacks from Russian drones and long range ballistic missiles could run out within days.
The missiles are stockpiled outside of the country and only brought in a few days before being used. Mr Trump’s decision to stop all military aid means those in transit to Ukraine could be blocked.
Lt Gen Si Nick Borton, former commander of Nato’s Rapid Reaction Force told The Independent: “Key elements are air defence, long range strike, and ammunition. Europe is doing more – especially with ammunition but the stocks will start to run low very quickly under corrent levels of intensity.”
Mass drone attacks will soak up current missile supplies, Sir Nick said, adding it would also “embolden Russia to continue on the offensive”.
General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, former head of the British army, told The Independent that Mr Trump’s suspension of aid “will reveal how reliant Ukraine is on American military support and how inadequate European stocks are”.
Sir Mark, who also commanded the Special Air Service on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, went on to warn that “Europe inherits more of the problem [in Ukraine] but has significant problems of its own; large capability gaps to fill, insufficient time and inadequate resources”.
Oleksandr Merezhko who chairs the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the impact could have an effect on the battlefield “within days”.
“I don’t know for how long supplies will last… My main concern is the lack of missiles for air defences to protect Ukrainian cities,” he told The Independent. “The Russians will use this opportunity to intensify attacks. This is why Trump’s decision is so dangerous.
“Putin might also try to intensify offensives on the frontline. That is why it is so dangerous. The chances are it will happen.”
At the moment, Russia fires about 100-200 missiles and drones at Ukraine every day. According to Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine’s Intelligence agency, that number is expected to surge to 500 a day. Volumes like that “simply overload our defence systems”, he told the Ukrainian media.
Ukraine’s defence against these swarms ranges from soldiers in pickup trucks mounted with 50mm Browning machine guns, through to the long range Patriot missiles. Ukraine has six American Patriot batteries and a few from Germany.
Last April Mr Zelensky said that a scarcity of Patriot missiles which was attributed to holdups in the US led to successful Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector.
“There were 11 missiles flying. We destroyed the first seven, and four (remaining) destroyed Trypillia [thermal electricity plant]. Why? Because there were zero missiles. We ran out of missiles to defend Trypillia,” he said in the interview with US network PBS.
Mr Zelensky has said previously that 25 Patriot missile systems would mean that Ukraine would be able to hold Russia back indefinitely.
The cancellation of aid also means a pause in the delivery of Himars artillery and ATACM long range rockets which Ukraine has used to target Russian command and control hubs, airfields and logistics bases.
This will affect Ukraine’s ability to fight Russians with its newly procured F16 aircraft and the Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles which have been devastating to Russia – especially in Crimea. Storm Shadow is launched from aircaft – if the airfields are bombed by Russia, the planes cannot take off.
On the frontlines in Ukraine, senior officers told The Independent that conventional systems of this kind were proving less effective.
“Russia is getting good at avoiding our long range missile attacks. We are seeing less armour in action and less artillery,” said a battalion commander near Dnipro.
European allies have supplied medium-range anti defence systems and the UK has announced plans to build another 5,000 missiles for Ukraine in Belfast but these have a range of about 8km. The Patriots can reach up to 160km.
