Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelensky said on Wednesday March 16, peace talks with Russia were becoming ‘more realistic’ but more time is needed for any deal to be in the interests of Ukraine. 

Zelensky made the early morning statement after his team said a peace deal that will end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be struck with Vladimir Putin within one or two weeks because Russian forces will run out of fresh troops and supplies by then.

‘The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,’ Zelenskiy said in a video address on Wednesday, ahead of the next round of talks.

Meanwhile, Oleksiy Arestovich, one of Zelensky’s top aides, said the war would end within weeks and a peace deal struck when Putin’s troops run out of resources. He also warned that Russia could bring in new reinforcements to bolster their attack, which could prolong the conflict further.

‘We are at a fork in the road now,’ said Arestovich. ‘There will either be a peace deal struck very quickly, within a week or two, with troop withdrawal and everything, or there will be an attempt to scrape together some, say, Syrians for a round two and, when we grind them too, an agreement by mid-April or late April.

‘I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement. Maybe much earlier, we will see.