Speaking in an exclusive interview for Associated PressZelenskyy said that Russia did not want to participate in the negotiations on the truce or discuss any concessions, which Kremlin interprets as a loss when his troops have an advantage in the Battlefields.
He said US President Donald Trump could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table threat to the sanctions aimed at the Russian energy and banking sector, as well as the continuation of the Ukrainian army.
“I think that’s the closest and the most important steps,” he said in an interview in the Ukrainian capital that lasted for more than an hour.
Talk about Ukraine without us is dangerous
Zelenskyy’s statements followed the comments on Friday, when he said American and Russian officials “already talk” about the end of the war. Trump said his administration had “very serious” talks with Russia, but did not state the details.
“I can have my own relationships, but talk about Ukraine without us – it’s dangerous for everything,” Zelensky said.
He said his team in contact with Trump administration, but that these talks were at the “general level” and believes that personal meetings will soon be there to develop more detailed agreements.
“We need to work more on that,” he said, adding that Trump, understandable, seemed aimed at domestic problems in the first weeks after his inauguration.
Almost a three-year war in Ukraine is at the crossroads. Trump promised to end the struggles within six months from taking power, but both sides are very distant, and it is not clear how the truce could look. Meanwhile, Russia continues slowly, but certainly achieve gains at the front, and the Ukrainian forces suffer a serious lack of manpower.
Most Ukrainians want a break in the fighting to renew their lives. The country faces almost daily Russian attacks on homes, and the attacks on energy systems have brought entire cities into darkness.
Millions of Ukrainians are displaced and are unable to return to their homes after the huge areas in the east of the country were demolished. Almost a fifth of Ukraine is now occupied by Russia. In these areas, the authorities set by Moscow quickly delete any traces of Ukrainian identity.
With a trump that returned to the White House, the ratio of Ukraine towards the United States, its largest and most important allies, is also at a turning point.
In the first telephone conversation with Trump during the presidential campaign, Zelenskyy said that they were both agreed to meet in order to discuss the steps needed to end the war. However, the planned visit of the Trump Envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogga, was delayed “for legal reason,” Zelensky said. It was accompanied by a sudden freezing foreign aid that practically caused the stopping of projects of Ukrainian organizations.
“I believe that, above all, it is important to meet with him, and that is important. And that is, by the way, something he wants the whole of Europe, “Zelenskyy said, thinking of a” joint vision of the rapid end of war. “
I would like to see now, Ukraine and Ruse for the negotiating table …
“After talking to Trump, we should move on to some form of conversation with the Russians. And I would like to see the United States, Ukraine and Ruse for the negotiating table … And, honestly, I think the European Union’s voice should also be present. I think that would be fair, effective. But how will it turn out? I don’t know. “
Zelensky warned that the path may not be allowed to take “control” over the war, obviously referring to Russian threats by escalation during the administration of Joe Biden.
Without security guarantees by the Allies Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that any agreement reached with Russia would be just a forewail for future aggression. NATO membership, which is a long desired goal of Kiev, which Moscow categorically rejected, remains Zelensky’s first choice.
NATO membership is the “cheapest” option for the Allies of Ukraine, and would also geopolitically strengthen Trump, Zelensky said.
“I really believe that these are the cheapest security guarantees that Ukraine can get, the cheapest for all,” he said.
“It will be a signal that is not Russia that should decide who should be in NATO, and who does not, but the United States. I think that would be a big victory for Trump, “he said, obviously appealing to the president’s propensity to the winners and business arrangements.
He also said that the Ukrainian army of 800,000 soldiers would be a bonus for the Alliance, especially if Trump wants to withdraw American troops that are stationed abroad.
Other security guarantee proposals should be supported by sufficient amounts of weapons from the US and Europe, as well as the support of Kiev for the development of their own defense industry, said.
Zelenskyy also said that the French proposal on sending European forces in Ukraine to act as a deterrence from Russian aggression begins to take the form, but expressed skepticism, stating that there are many issues regarding the command-control structure, number of troops and their positions. This question raised French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump, he said.
“I said in the presence of both leaders to interest us as part of security guarantees, but not as the only guarantee of security,” he said. “That’s not enough.”
He added: “Imagine, there’s a contingent. The question is who is in the command? Who is in charge? What will work if Russian attacks come? Rockets, desant, attack from the sea, crossing the land borders, offensive. What will he do? What are their mandates? “
When asked if these issues have asked Macron directly, he laughed and said, “We are still in the process of that dialogue.”
After the statement of the American Foreign Minister Marca Ruby that the war of Ukraine returned 100 years back, Zelenskyy called the ruby to visit Ukraine.
“Rubio should come in Ukraine, above all, to see what Russia did,” Ukrainian president said. “But also to see what the Ukrainian people did, which they managed to do for the safety of Ukraine and the world, as I said, and that he just talks to those people.”
(Vijesti.ba)
