This is an ultimatum not only to Ukraine, but to the whole world: Zelensky on Putin's demand to lift sanctions against Russia
Kyiv • UNN
President Zelenskyy criticized Putin's call to lift sanctions against Russia as demonstrating his inadequacy, saying that the world imposed sanctions because of Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories and killing of people, and that sanctions can only be lifted when Russia withdraws from the occupied territories.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting on the statement of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin about the lifting of sanctions from the Russian Federation, noted that this is an ultimatum not only for Ukraine, but for the whole world. He said this in an interview with the Italian TV channel Sky TG24, UNN correspondent reports.
"He (Putin - ed.) says that we should forget about sanctions and says that this will not be a frozen conflict. And what will it be? We will forgive him for 20 thousand people and thousands of deaths. He thinks that he will be forgiven, Russia thinks that Russia will be forgiven. No one will forget this, but everything must go according to the law," Zelensky said.
The head of the Ukrainian state suggested that Putin had "forgotten" that the whole world imposed sanctions because he occupied our territories and killed people.
"How can you say: let them lift the sanctions? Again, the inadequacy of the man. He must have forgotten that the whole world imposed sanctions on him for occupying our territories and killing people. That is, if you crossed the border, occupied, raped people, the world responded in a civilized way. The world imposed sanctions, an economic response to all these crimes. And if the world imposes sanctions because you started a war, you have to leave the territory to have the sanctions lifted. And the whole world imposed sanctions, so if you say: I will stop, just lift the sanctions, then you are already making an ultimatum not only to Ukraine, but to the whole world," Zelensky said.
Addendum
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin saidthat Russia is allegedly ready to start negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, but Ukraine needs to withdraw its troops from the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions and declare a non-nuclear and non-aligned status. In addition, the dictator called for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
This statement was made a day before the Peace Summit hosted by Ukraine.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry statedthat Vladimir Putin's recent statements about Moscow's readiness for peace talks are yet another manipulative attempt by Russia to present itself as a peacemaker.
Zelenskiy saidthat Putin's "offer" of a ceasefire in Ukraine is an ultimatum that cannot be trusted.
