Willing to exchange territories that control Ukrainian troops in Russian Kursk, in return for the possibility of peace negotiations.
“We will exchange one ground with the other,” Vlodimir Zelenski said in an interview with the British newspaper Guardian published today, but without specifying which Ukrainian territories he will ask for. “I don’t know, we’ll see it. But all our territories are important, there is no priority, ”he notes.
Russia today holds about 20% of Ukrainian territory to the east and south of the country, as the full -scale invasion launched on February 24 is approaching its third anniversary.
Ukraine has taken a surprise attack in the Kursk region of Western Russia last August and still holds part of the territory it had initially occupied, although its size has been reduced during Russian counterattacks.
Kiev officials say the business in Kursk was aimed at protecting the border areas and that the occupied land could be used as a negotiating paper in any negotiations, the prospects of which increased after Donald Trump’s return as US President.
Zelenski has repeatedly stressed that any plan to end the war in Ukraine should provide for strong security guarantees by the allies and, in particular, the US president, to ensure that no future Russian attack is possible.
Trump said on Friday that he would probably meet Zelenski this week to discuss the end of the war. On Sunday he said he had come into contact with Putin, without specifying when. The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied these contacts.
Today, the US president has returned, announcing, through his own Truth Social platform, that Finance Minister Scott Besed will soon go to Ukraine to meet with President Zelenski.
“This war must and will end quickly – too much death and destruction. The United States has spent billions of dollars, with little results, “President Trump still wrote in his post.
It is noted that the Ukrainian president will travel to the Munich Conference on Security Later this week, where he is expected to meet with US Vice President Jay Di Vance.
“Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees”
“If Donald Trump withdraws US support for Ukraine, Europe alone will not be able to fill the gap,” the Ukrainian president clarifies in the British print in the British print and adds:
“There are some who say that Europe could offer security guarantees without Americans, and I always answer no. Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees. “
Zelenski says he is ready for negotiations, but wishes Ukraine to do so from a ‘power position’ and reiterates that he will offer US companies to be recruited and investment concessions in an attempt to take Trump with his side: They help us to save Ukraine, they will have the opportunity to rebuild it, along with Ukrainian businesses. We are ready to talk about all these things in detail. “
Ukraine has the largest reserves of uranium and titanium in Europe, Zelenski said and it is not “in the US interest” that these stocks are in Russian hands and possibly share them with North Korea, China or Iran.
But there is also a financial motivation, he said: “We are not only talking about security, but also about money … Valuable natural resources, where we can offer our partners opportunities that did not exist before to invest in them … For us, jobs will be created, for our jobs, for us, for us, for us, for us, for us, for us, US companies will create profits. “
Patriot and… dry bread
Zelenski said it is vital to Ukraine’s security to continue US military support, citing US air defense systems as an example. “Only patriots can defend us from all kinds of rockets, only patriots. There are other [ευρωπαϊκά] Systems … but they cannot provide complete protection … So you can see that without America, security guarantees cannot be complete, “he said.
Regarding the USAID freeze, the Ukrainian president said: “We are not going to protest that some programs have been frozen, because the most important thing for us is military aid and it has been preserved, for which I am grateful … if the American side has The ability and desire to continue its humanitarian mission, we are fully in favor of it, and if it does not, then we will find it ourselves how to get out of this situation. “
Trump’s public statements about Ukraine so far are fragmented and often contradictory, but one issue that has prevailed is that while he wants to make an agreement to end the war, Europe should be responsible for maintaining peace after . In response, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, has expressed the idea of a European peacekeeping force that could be developed in Ukraine at some point after a ceasefire agreement. Zelenski said that such a mission would only work if it was developed on a scale.
“As for Macron’s idea, if it is part of the security guarantee, then yes, if there will be 100-150,000 European soldiers, then yes. But even then, we will not be at the same level of troops as the Russian army, “the Ukrainian president said.
Europe is still far from agreeing to develop ready -made troops in Ukraine, a move in which Putin would be unlikely to agree on the negotiations, and Zelenski said a milder peace mission would be unlikely to work unless accompanied by guarantees. That it will stand against Russia if Moscow repeats hostilities.
“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think the UN troops or anything like that has really helped anyone in history. We can’t really support this idea today. We are in favor of a peacekeeping excerpt if this is part of a security guarantee and I would like to emphasize again that without America it is impossible, “he repeated.
