Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on Monday evening on the need for a “meeting”, “in any form whatsoever”, with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to “stop the war” in Ukraine.
“I believe that without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they (the Russians) are ready for to stop the war,” Zelensky said in an interview with Suspilne, a Ukrainian regional state media.
Mr. Zelensky, for whom, as he recently pointed out, “without negotiations, the war will not be stopped”, has already repeatedly called for a summit meeting with Mr. Putin, but his call on Monday was particularly insistent.
However, Ukraine cannot “accept any ultimatum from Russia”, he warned.
Several sessions of talks have taken place face-to-face and by videoconference between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In the interview granted to Suspilne, Mr. Zelensky insisted that any “compromise” in the negotiations with Russia would be subject to a referendum in his country.
“I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes (which will appear in an eventual agreement), and they can be historic, […] we will come to a referendum,” he said.
“The people will have to decide on certain forms of compromise. And what [les compromis] will consist of our conversations” with Russia, continued the Ukrainian president, referring at length to the key question of NATO.
“We have all already understood this. We are not accepted [dans l’OTAN], because they (its member states) are afraid of Russia. That’s all. And we have to calm down and say, “Okay, [il faudra] other security guarantees,” he said. »
“There are NATO countries that want to be guarantors of security [de l’Ukraine] […] who are ready to do everything the Alliance should do if we were members of it. And I think that’s a normal compromise,” Zelensky added.
Moscow says it wants a guarantee that Ukraine will never enter NATO, an organization created to protect Europe from the threat of the USSR at the start of the Cold War and which has gradually expanded to the gates of Russia.
“I believe that the issue of Crimea (annexed by Moscow in 2014) and Donbass is a very difficult story for everyone,” admitted the Ukrainian head of state in the same interview.
“To find a way out, we must first take the first step towards security guarantees and a ceasefire,” he noted.
“During the very first meeting with the President of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues, they are relevant, they are important for us,” concluded Mr. Zelensky.