Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that neither he nor his people can accept some of Russia’s reported demands to end the increasingly brutal invasion, now entering its fourth week.
Notably, Zelensky said, Ukraine would not make any territorial concessions to Russia.
“There are compromises that we as an independent state cannot be ready for,” he told CNN host Fareed Zakaria through an interpreter. “All compromises regarding our territorial integrity and our sovereignty…. [the] Ukrainian people have talked about it. They didn’t greet Russian soldiers with flowers; they have greeted them with courage, and they have greeted them with weapons in their hands.”
Zelensky added, “You can’t win favor with the citizens of another country by force.”
According to the Turkish government, which has strong relations with both Ukraine and Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently outlined a series of conditions to end his attack. The most challenging of those terms relate to Ukrainian territory.
BBC News, reporting on Turke’s phone call with Putin, wrote: “The assumption is that Russia will demand that the Ukrainian government give up territory in eastern Ukraine.” Russia has supported an armed insurgency in eastern Ukraine for years, and before the invasion it formally recognized two breakaway republics there along the Russian border.
In 2014, Russia also invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula, previously controlled by Ukraine. Much of the world — including Ukraine, the US and most of Europe — refused to recognize the territory as part of Russia. The Kremlin is also likely to seek this recognition as part of the peace terms.
On Sunday, Zelensky, both as president and citizen of Ukraine, said these kinds of terms are a non-starter.
“You can’t just demand that Ukraine recognize some areas as independent republics. These compromises are just wrong,” he said.
Russia’s other demands may be easier for Ukraine to nurture, as Kiev promises never to join NATO’s military alliance. Both Zelensky and previous Ukrainian governments have long called for membership in NATO, which entails a mutual-defense pact in the event of an attack. NATO has quietly declined Ukraine’s request for fear of antagonizing Russia and provoking a global war.
“If we were members of NATO, no war would have started. I would like to get security guarantees for my country, for my people,” Zelensky said, calling on the Western military alliance to finally give Ukraine clarity on its membership request. “If NATO members are ready to see us in the alliance, do it immediately, because people are dying every day.”
Zelensky also reiterated his call for Putin to meet with him directly to negotiate a peace deal. The Kremlin seemed unwilling to allow such a meeting to take place, arguing that the terms of the ceasefire should be ironed out beforehand.
“I think we can’t end this war without negotiations. I think all the people who think this dialogue is superficial and it won’t solve anything, just don’t understand that this is very valuable. there is only 1% chance of this war I think we should seize this opportunity. We should do that.”
