Kiev, 24 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) - President Volodymyr Zelensky says he sees possibilities that the Russian war against Ukraine can be ended in the coming year.

"When will the war end? When Russia wants the war to end. When the United States takes a stronger position. When the Global South stands with Ukraine and stands with the end of the war," Zelensky said in a conversation with representatives of foreign media in Kiev at the third international conference on food security called Grain from Ukraine.

Zelensky said Saturday that he is confident that all these measures will be implemented and decisions will be made sooner or later. "It won't be an easy road, but I am confident that we have every chance of making it next year," Zelensky was further quoted by the Ukrinform agency as saying.

"We are open to proposals from leaders of African, Asian and Arab states," Zelensky continued. "I would also like to hear the proposals of the new president of the United States of America and I think we will hear them in January and we will have a plan to end this war."

During his election campaign, US President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly suggested that he wanted to scale back massive US military support for Kiev.

He has since stopped short of his earlier declaration that he could end the war within 24 hours.

Fierce Russian attacks reported in eastern Ukraine

On the military front, advancing Russian troops and Ukrainian defenders continue to engage in fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian military officials.

In its morning report on Saturday, the Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev cited the comparatively high number of 194 attacks since Friday morning.

"The enemy is using its superiority in men and materiel and is constantly attacking our positions," the general staff said.

On the Pokrovsk front section in the Donetsk region alone, 44 attacks were counted, although the military data cannot be verified in detail.

There were 36 Russian assaults near the extremely vulnerable town of Kurakhove. According to situation maps, a cauldron is threatening to form to the south of the town, from which it is likely to be difficult for the Ukrainian soldiers to withdraw.

The Ukrainian military blog DeepState also referred to the Russian advance near Velyka Novosilka in the south of the Donetsk region. The Ukrainians are losing territory there that they had recaptured during their summer offensive in 2023.

Russian military blogs report further advances by their troops in the mining town of Toretsk.

Rocket attack targets occupied Ukrainian port of Berdiansk

Meanwhile the Moscow-appointed administration in Berdiansk said Kiev launched a guided missile attack on the Russian-occupied port city on the Sea of Azov.

Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Saturday that no one was injured, the port's work was not affected, and fires caused by the attack have been extinguished.

Ukrainian Telegram channels reported a loud explosion was heard in Berdiansk shortly before midnight on Friday.

Berdiansk was one of Ukraine's busiest ports before the war. The city was occupied early in the all-out invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.

MIA file photo