Amid the ongoing public spat with U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that he would be willing to step down in exchange for NATO membership for his country.

Zelensky, apparently still miffed about not being included in opening talks between the Russians and a White House delegation in Ryiad earlier this week, seems intent on negotiating the peace process from the outside in public.

Speaking in a Kyiv press conference on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader said that he would be willing to resign from his office to help the peace process. However, he quickly caveated by suggesting that this would come in the form of Ukraine’s joining NATO, officially a non-starter for Russia, per the Kremlin.

“If there is peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready. … I can exchange it for NATO,” Zelensky said per London’s Daily Telegraph.

Zelensky’s comments came in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump branding a “dictator” for cancelling presidential and legislative elections last year under the martial law implemented following the Russian invasion.

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