Zelensky: "I am ready to sit down at the negotiating table with Putin"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that if the only scheme to bring peace to the population is to sit down at the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he is ready for this. This was reported by Ukrainskaya Pravda.

“If this is the only configuration for Ukrainians that allows us to achieve peace and not lose people, then of course we will go for it,” Zelensky said in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.

Zelensky stressed that his personal relationship with the Kremlin leader is irrelevant in this situation:

“I consider him an enemy. To be honest, I think he considers me an enemy too,” the Ukrainian president said.

He also stressed that at present Ukraine cannot regain all its territories and “it is impossible to lose millions of people for a result that is unlikely to be achieved.”

Zelensky said that he “cannot break the oath he gave to those who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland.” The politician noted that it is impossible to violate the Constitution and recognize the occupied territories as belonging to Russia.

The Ukrainian president once again denied the possibility of holding elections in the country while hostilities are ongoing.

The next presidential elections in the country were supposed to be held on March 31, 2024. They were not held due to martial law in Ukraine. The country's Constitution does not directly prohibit holding presidential elections during martial law. However, such a ban is established at the level of the law “On the legal regime of martial law.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly claimed that negotiations cannot be held with the Ukrainian head of state, who has “lost his legitimacy.” Because, according to Putin, Vladimir Zelensky “has no right to sign anything due to its illegality.”

♦ Ukraine's conditions for ending the war

Ukraine is demanding the implementation of a "peace formula" that would require the withdrawal of troops to the 1991 borders. The issue is the "referendums" held there by Russia in 2014 and 2022, and the illegal annexation of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions of Ukraine. Moscow rules out the possibility of negotiations based on the "peace formula".

♦ Russian conditions

Putin has put forward his own conditions for a ceasefire, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the self-proclaimed independent DPR, LKR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, the international recognition of these four regions and Crimea as part of Russia, Ukraine's refusal to join NATO, and the lifting of sanctions. Zelensky called the proposal an "unbelievable" ultimatum.

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