Ukraine ready for talks on war but US, Europe must be there: Zelensky
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has in recent weeks spoken of the need for talks on moving the conflict to a “just” end.
PHOTO: AFP
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Ukraine is prepared to engage in negotiations to end its nearly three-year-old war with Russia, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, but he emphasised that the United States and Europe also have to take part in any talks.
Mr Zelensky, who has long called for all Russian troops to leave Ukraine as a pre-condition, has in recent weeks spoken of the need for talks on moving the conflict to a “just” end.
The Kremlin, whose forces have made gains for months on their push through eastern Ukraine, said this week that it was too early to consider four-way talks.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov again pointed to Mr Zelensky as an “illegitimate” leader because he had remained in power beyond the time of his mandate.
“If people believe we must move to the diplomatic track, and I believe we are ready to move to the diplomatic track, there must be the US, Europe, Ukraine and Russia,” Mr Zelensky told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview broadcast on Mr Morgan’s YouTube channel.
Mr Zelensky said that if sitting opposite Russian President Vladimir Putin at the negotiating table “was the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine... definitely, we will go for this set-up, for a meeting with these four participants”.
Elections
Mr Putin has repeatedly dismissed Mr Zelensky as a participant in any talks, saying he had failed to submit to elections when his term in office ended in May 2024.
Ukraine has said no election is legally possible while martial law remains in force. In the interview, Mr Zelensky rejected the Kremlin’s argument, saying he was elected in 2019 with 73 per cent of the vote.
“I have always been open to elections. But during a war, elections require constitutional changes and serious legal adjustment,” he said.
“The key issue isn’t just legal – it’s human. How will soldiers in trenches vote? What about millions of Ukrainians in occupied territories. Do their voices no longer matter? And what about eight million Ukrainians forced abroad by war?”
US President Donald Trump has suggested that Washington and Moscow had already been in touch about Ukraine, but a top Russian diplomat said direct contacts were not yet under way.
But Mr Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Mr Keith Kellogg, raised the election issue last week, telling Reuters that Washington wanted Ukraine to hold polls, potentially by the end of the year, especially if Kyiv can agree to a truce with Russia.
In his interview comments, Mr Zelensky called for no let-up in sanctions pressure on Russia, saying that any respite would increase the risk of a second invasion.
Mr Zelensky also provided rare casualty estimates for both sides in nearly three years of conflict.
He put Ukrainian casualties at 45,100, with the number of injured at 390,000. He estimated Russian losses at 350,000 dead and between 600,000 and 700,000 injured, with “many” Russian forces missing in action.
Mr Zelensky also restated his contention that Ukraine needed security guarantees to guard against future Russian actions. If Ukraine’s pursuit of Nato membership – rejected out of hand by Russia – took an extended period of time, what form of support was Ukraine to receive, he asked.
“What will be defending us against this evil for this whole time?” he said.
“What support package? Which missiles? Will we be given nuclear weapons?”
“Then let them give us nuclear weapons,” he added.
“Will they give us the missiles in the quantities to stop Russia? I’m not sure of that.” REUTERS
