Zelenskyy: Ukraine is not holding any behind-the-scenes talks with russia
Kyiv • UNN
The President of Ukraine stated that there are no secret negotiations with russia and emphasized the importance of maintaining the trust of partners. Before the start of diplomatic dialogue, Ukraine needs clear security guarantees.
Ukraine is not conducting any behind-the-scenes negotiations with Russia, as this is not in the interests of the Ukrainian side. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Polish media, reports UNN.
Details
Ukraine is not conducting any behind-the-scenes talks, this is not in our interests... with Russia itself. Why? This is not in our interests, because for us the loss of trust of partners is certainly a great risk. It is very important for me to preserve the alliance between partners. In the EU, there are already enough "friends" who are doing everything to find some favor towards Russia, or to balance, to find their place between Ukraine and Russia, and not to be on the side of the truth, to be on the side of Ukraine. It is important for me to preserve the alliance. It is everywhere - in geo-support, geopolitics, weapons, sanctions, the EU, NATO. I believe that over the past three years we have managed to build this alliance
He stressed that any negotiations with Russia cannot be without Ukraine.
"Ukraine always conducts tough but truthful negotiations with the Russians. We are against this. What does Ukraine need before we move on to diplomacy? Of course, we believe that diplomatically we can end this war. We are on this side, we are on this side, because diplomacy is always fewer victims and less time. The main thing is that you can stop this hellish story. For this, there must be a desire. Even if one partner, such as the Russian Federation, does not want to, you can use the formula we are talking about - peace through force, when partners unite and forcibly compel the occupiers to dialogue. We are talking about dialogue. As of today, this has not yet happened," Zelenskyy added.
According to him, before Ukraine sits down at the negotiating table, it needs security guarantees.
This is #1. This is necessary for everyone. Everyone has already understood that Russia is the enemy and they are capable of going to any country in Europe and occupying it. They have a lot of power for this, and unfortunately, they have such desires. Yes, they are sick, but the main question is whether Russia will be able to return again. Clear security guarantees are needed, because you can just talk about a ceasefire and give the Russians a chance to prepare for the occupation, as it was in the period between 2014 and 2022. And therefore, it is important what security guarantees for Ukraine will be, where our NATO, where our weapons, where our support, finances, etc. (...) I have a very simple question, for example, we are not yet in NATO and diplomacy has begun, the million-strong army that exists in Ukraine, now partners are helping, where will we find the money later to keep the million-strong army? This is a fact, if you don't have NATO, no support, air defense, a common fleet, you have to rely only on yourself
Reminder
The Bloomberg source reported that Ukraine and Russia are holding negotiations in Qatar about the rules for protecting nuclear facilities from attacks.