In his New Year’s Eve speech, Zelensky said Ukraine wants to end the war, but not ‘at any price’
The Ukrainian president declared this Wednesday (31) that “10% remains” for his country to reach a “peace agreement” with the but that the most important issues still need to be decided, and warned against an agreement that rewards Moscow. “The peace agreement is 90% ready, 10% remains. And this is much more than just numbers,” Zelensky said in a video message posted on his Telegram account. This 10% will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe,” he added.
In his New Year’s Eve speech, Zelensky said Ukraine wants to end the war, but not “at any price,” and that any agreement must include strong security guarantees to dissuade Russia from invading its territory again.
The United States has been trying to work out a peace agreement with input from both Moscow and Kiev, but has failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough on the key issue of territory.
As part of the deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin is pushing to gain full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, but Zelensky said in his speech that he does not believe Russia will stop there if Ukraine withdraws. “‘Leave Donbass and everything will be over.’ This is what fraud sounds like when translated from Russian into Ukrainian, English, German, French and, in fact, any language in the world,” he declared.
*With information from AFP
