President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia has a negative attitude towards holding a referendum, as it requires a ceasefire and the creation of a security infrastructure. He announced this during a conversation with journalists, as reported by UNN.
Details
According to Zelenskyy, holding a referendum requires at least 60 days of a complete ceasefire, which Russia does not agree to.
It is clear that the Russians' attitude towards the referendum is not positive. Why? Because a referendum requires security, a security infrastructure. What does this mean? It means a ceasefire is needed. And the Russians do not want to give us a ceasefire for as many days as are needed to hold a referendum. For us, that's 60 days. We understand that at least 60 days are needed. Yes, of course, this is a very difficult issue. And Russia wants to continue to pressure us. And with what? With the continuation of the war, missiles, artillery, etc. Therefore, we are fighting for this.
The President also recalled previous international agreements that did not work. At the same time, according to him, Ukraine has agreed with the United States on security guarantees, which must be supported by the US Congress and the Parliament of Ukraine, and bilateral agreements with Europeans are planned to be confirmed through the European Parliament.
And here, too, is the question of the strength of these agreements, the strength of the recognition of these agreements. Ukraine had the Budapest Memorandum, it was signed by individuals - it did not work. Then there were the Minsk agreements, which led to a full-scale war, all these papers did not work. We have now agreed with the Americans that we will have security guarantees that will be supported by the US Congress, which is very important, and the Parliament of Ukraine. Security guarantees will be voted on bilaterally. And our, for example, bilateral agreements with Europeans will accordingly, as for the coalition of the willing, I mean, will then be confirmed by the European Parliament so that these agreements have force.
Separately, Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine considers it necessary to enshrine the 20-point plan in a referendum.
"And the 20-point plan - we believe it needs to be enshrined in a referendum. Everyone understands that this is the strongest historical signature of the power of this document. And I would really like to do this. Of course, not everyone has a positive attitude towards this because of everything I told you. Because this definitely leads to the open expression of will not of one person, not of 450 people, but of millions of people," the President of Ukraine emphasized.
Recall
Following a meeting with the US President, the President of Ukraine stated that the parties discussed all aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results, and also discussed the sequence of further actions.