At the same time, the Ukrainian president specified that there are commitments that Ukraine cannot accept “as an independent state”, including “any commitment related to the territorial integrity or sovereignty” of the country.
The president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelenski, has expressed this Sunday in his comments for CNN that negotiations with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, represent the only way to end the conflict between the two nations.
“I am ready for negotiations. I was prepared over the last two years,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president criticized those who consider that the negotiations between Moscow and kyiv are “superficial” and cannot resolve the situation. “They just don’t understand that it’s very important. If there’s even a 1% chance that we can stop this war, I think we should take this opportunity,” he said.
According to Zelensky, although his country’s forces have already shown that “they can deal a heavy blow”, “dignity is not going to save lives” . “In this way, I think we should use any format, any opportunity to have the possibility to negotiate, to talk with Putin, but if these attempts fail, it would mean World War III ,” he said.
At the same time, he specified that there are commitments that Ukraine cannot accept “as an independent state”, including ” any commitment related to the territorial integrity or sovereignty ” of the country.
“They cannot force us to be in this limbo”
The Ukrainian president pointed out that, despite the military and economic assistance provided by the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance to Ukraine, the military bloc gave false hope to the country. According to Zelensky, NATO gave a “very clear” answer to Kiev stating that it will not be a member of the alliance “but, publicly, the doors will remain open “. “If we were members of NATO, a war would not have started. I want to receive security guarantees for my country, for my people,” he added.
“But if they are not prepared to save people’s lives, if they just want to see us live in two worlds, if they want to see us in this ambiguous position when we don’t understand if they can accept us or not, they can’t put us in this situation, they can’t force us to to be in this limbo,” said the Ukrainian president.
“If NATO members are ready to see us in the alliance, let them do so immediately,” Zelensky said.
negotiations with Moscow
Since the end of February, the delegations of both countries have held four rounds of negotiations, the last one in videoconference format. This Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced that the West manipulates the Ukrainian delegation and does not allow Kiev to accept “absolutely minimal” demands , a fact that slows down talks with Moscow.
Meanwhile, this March 18, the leader of the Russian delegation in the negotiations with Kiev, Vladimir Medinski, stressed that, despite the rapprochement of the parties’ positions, at the moment it is too early to talk about a meeting between the presidents of the countries given that Moscow and Kiev must prepare the text of a document that will also be approved by the heads of the Foreign Ministries of both nations. He also stressed that, before reaching an agreement, the parties must also discuss additional guarantees for Ukraine.