A dramatic change in tone by Ukraine’s president – acknowledging the strength of Russia’s hold over swathes of Ukrainian territory – has coincided with the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House.
The incoming US commander-in-chief has said he can end Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day – though without saying how.
One thing is certain, however; his approach will be very different to Joe Biden’s.
Mr Trump has already signalled he disapproves of allowing Ukraine to launch longer-range American ballistic missiles against targets inside Russia – a sign that crucial US military support to Ukrainian forces could be about to be reduced or even end altogether.
For Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he is fast adapting to the new reality his country is facing.
His government wasn’t a huge fan of Mr Biden but he was at least significantly more predictable than his replacement – and consistent in his condemnation of Vladimir Putin.
Then again, Mr Trump’s unpredictability could be used to Ukraine’s advantage when dealing with Moscow.
The new president will not want to look soft or weak as he seeks to push the two sides into a deal.
Into this mix, Mr Zelenskyy has notably altered his language when describing how the conflict could end.
Previously there was no suggestion of negotiations with Moscow which didn’t involve the complete withdrawal of Russian forces.
Now, however, the Ukrainian president has started to voice what he and his Western allies have known for a long time – that Russia’s entrenched positions are impossible to shift with the current level of Western support and Ukrainian fighting capability.
Mr Zelenskyy first signalled his new approach in an interview with Sky News’s Stuart Ramsay, when he said for the first time that Kyiv wants NATO membership for the parts of Ukraine under government control and would wait to regain the rest through diplomacy.
In an interview this week with France’s Le Parisien newspaper, he went further.
“We cannot give up our territories. The Ukrainian constitution forbids us to do so. De facto, these territories are now controlled by the Russians. We do not have the strength to recover them,” he said.
“We can only count on diplomatic pressure from the international community to force Putin to sit down at the negotiating table.”
Mr Zelenskyy continued: “It’s not about who sits across from you; it’s about the position you’re in when negotiating. I don’t believe we’re in a weak position, but we’re also not in a strong one.
“First, we need to develop a model, an action plan, a peace plan – call it what you will. Then, we can present it to Putin or, more broadly, to the Russian people.”
