Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he no longer wants to push for Ukraine’s NATO membership, one of the issues that officially motivated the Russian invasion. He spoke in an interview broadcast by the American channel ABC.
Another apparent openness towards Moscow, he says he is ready for a “compromise” on the status of the separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, whose independence Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally recognized just before launching his war. February.
“Regarding NATO, I tempered my position on this issue some time ago, when we understood” that “NATO was not ready to accept Ukraine”, a- he said in this interview broadcast on Monday evening.
“The Alliance is afraid of anything controversial, and of a confrontation with Russia,” he said. He added that he does not want to be the president of a “country that begs on its knees” for such a membership.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, and is waging war in this former Soviet republic. Moscow says it wants a guarantee that Kiev will never enter NATO, a transatlantic alliance created to protect Europe from the threat of the USSR at the start of the Cold War and which then gradually expanded to the gates. of Russia.
Open to dialogue
The Kremlin considers these enlargements to be threatening, as well as the military posture of the Western Allies near the Russian borders. President Putin also recognized shortly before starting his invasion two pro-Russian separatist “republics” in eastern Ukraine at war since 2014 with the forces of Kiev. He is now demanding that their independence also be recognized by Ukraine.
Asked regarding this Russian requirement, President Zelensky said he was open to dialogue on ABC. “I am talking regarding security guarantees. I think that when it comes to these temporarily occupied territories”, “which have only been recognized by Russia”, “we can discuss and find a compromise on the future of these territories” , he explained.
“What is important to me is how the people who are in these territories and who want to be part of Ukraine are going to live”, he continued, considering that the question was “more complex than simply the to acknowledge”. “This is another ultimatum and we reject ultimatums. What is needed is for President Putin to start talking, to start a dialogue, instead of living in a bubble,” he said. spear.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
