President Trump has really ramped up the pressure, in a fresh Politico interview signaling that the Ukrainian leader must begin to accept reality and make compromises, starting with holding elections. According to a fresh audio statement being circulated, Zelensky has newly responded by stating "I am ready for elections. I will be in Ukraine tomorrow and expect proposals from our partners and lawmakers on legal changes to allow elections during martial law," according to a translation.

"Since this issue is being raised by the U.S. president and our European partners, I'll be brief: I am ready. I ask the U.S., together with Europe, to ensure security for the vote. If that is done, Ukraine can hold elections within 60 days."

Has Trump finally put some real pressure on him? It seems so. Given Zelensky had put the brakes on the US-proposed pace plan by definitively rejecting the territorial concessions aspects to the document, the US president's assessment to Politico was blunt and highly critical, going so far as to basically call Ukraine not a democracy. "They haven't had an election in a long time," Trump said. "You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it's not a democracy anymore."

There was also this blistering and mocking statement from Trump: "He's a great salesman – I call him P.T. Barnum. You know who P.T. Barnum was? One of the greatest ever. He could sell any product at any time, whether it worked or not. Zelensky did the same thing: he got Crooked Joe Biden to hand him $350 billion, and now 25% of his country is gone."

All of this means that in two months Ukraine could finally see a new leader. A likely frontrunner candidate who has some big name recognition, both in Ukraine and internationally, is Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who is the former Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces. He was forced out by Zelensky, to the frustration and anger of many commanders, and took up his diplomatic post in July 2024.

Trump's Politico interview made clear that Zelensky is now seen as the main obstacle to peace...

The FT is reporting that Trump has given Kiev just days to accept the US ceasefire deal. Trump now wants a deal done by Christmas Day, according to the report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while meeting with so-called 'coalition of the willing' European leaders in London on Monday definitively ruled out that his country will agree to cede territory as part of a peace deal.

He specified that the question of territorial compromise is why he has not reached agreement on Donald Trump's peace deal. "There are visions of the US, Russia and Ukraine – and we don't have a unified view on Donbas," Zelensky told Bloomberg.