KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Kyiv would like to end the war with Russia next year through “diplomatic means”, as both countries prepare for Donald Trump’s return to the White House. February 2025 would mark the third anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with Russia’s troops gaining ground in recent months against Kyiv’s outmanned and outgunned soldiers. The prospect of Trump returning to power in the United States next year has raised questions about the future of the conflict, as the Republican president-elect has been critical of US military aid to Kyiv. Meanwhile North Korea — a key Kremlin ally — has sent thousands of its soldiers to help Moscow repel a Ukrainian offensive ongoing in Russia’s border Kursk region, according to Western officials. Zelensky spoke a day after saying the war will end “sooner” than it otherwise would have done once Trump becomes president. He also spoke a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin held his first phone call with a major Western leader in nearly two years, speaking to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who initiated the call despite Kyiv’s objections. “For our part, we must do everything we can to ensure that this war ends next year. We have to end it by diplomatic means,” Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainian radio. “And this, I think, is very important.”