KIEV (Reuters) – The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, It expects Europe and the United States to participate in any negotiations about the end of the country’s war with Russia, said Saturday.
At a press conference with Moldova President Maia Sandu, Zelensky said Ukraine also needs to be involved in any debate about the end of the conflict, so that such conversations have any significant impact.
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“Regarding the structure of negotiations: Ukraine, I really hope Ukraine participates, the United States, Europe and the Russians,” said the president, then explaining how this would happen. “Yes, I really would like Europe to participate because we will be members of the European Union.”
Zelensky said he believed that US President Donald Trump could end the war, but only get involved in Ukraine in the negotiations. “Otherwise, it will not work. Because Russia doesn’t want the end of the war while Ukraine wants, ”he added.
During his campaign, Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours after taking office, but his advisers have since stated that an agreement may take months.
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The president of the United States expressed a desire to talk to his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin about the end of the war.
On Friday, Putin said he would like to meet Trump to talk about Ukraine. He cited a 2022 decree issued by Zelensky that provides for the ban on negotiations with Putin, as a barrier to the agreement.
At the press conference, Zelensky said he issued that ban to stop forming other communication channels with Ukrainian interlocutors.
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Zelensky stated that Ukraine is ready to offer coal to Moldova, which undergoes an energy crisis after the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine was interrupted earlier this month.
Most of Moldova is controlled by the authorities in Chisinau, but there is a relevant minority of the population living in transnistria, a region that claims to be autonomous after a violent conflict in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The region, which houses the only electric plant in the country, is suffering the impact of the energy crisis after losing its gas supply, warning that soon its stocks will be sold out.
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“Russia’s latest measure was to orchestrate an energy crisis,” Sandu said in Kiev. “Those who live in the region of Moldova Transnistria, hostage to an unconstitutional regime supported by Russia in the last three decades, are now in the cold and in the dark.”
She said it is part of the Russian strategy to cause chaos in her country to facilitate the entry of a pro-Russian government, an apparent mention of the parliamentary elections that will take place this year.
Zelensky said Ukraine can provide sufficient coal to Moldova or transnistria solve energy problems, overthrowing electricity prices by 30%.
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“The absence of a crisis in Moldova is also of interest to Ukrainian security,” he said.
