Status: 03/19/2022 01:53 a.m
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has appealed to Russia to negotiate “sensibly” and “honestly”. This is the only chance for Russia to limit its own damage. Otherwise massive losses threatened.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Russia to engage in serious and honest talks on a peace settlement. “Meaningful negotiations on peace and security for Ukraine, honest negotiations and without delays are the only chance for Russia to lessen the damage caused by its own mistakes,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
If Ukraine’s territorial integrity is not restored, Russia will suffer “serious losses”. “It is time to establish territorial unity and justice for Ukraine,” said the Ukrainian head of state. “Otherwise Russia will suffer such losses that it will take several generations to get back on its feet.”
Negotiations since February 28
Zelenskyi reiterated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a peace solution. “It’s time to talk,” he said. The Kremlin has so far rejected this, wanting to create content for such a meeting that corresponds to its own ideas beforehand in the negotiations with Kyiv.
Russia and Ukraine have been negotiating a peace settlement since February 28, most recently via video link almost daily. While Moscow is talking about visible compromises, especially on the question of Ukraine’s neutral status, Kyiv sees no major progress. In addition to a neutral status for Ukraine, Russia is striving to demilitarize the country, among other things. In addition to an immediate ceasefire, Ukraine is demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops and subsequent concrete security guarantees.
“We’re moving in the right direction”
The Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk, who was involved in the negotiations, also emphasized that the country does not want to back down from its demands. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as its state independence are and will remain the so-called red lines for Kyiv in the current peace negotiations with Russia. These are “immovable,” emphasized Stefantschuk in an article on the Supreme Rada’s website.
Therefore, there can only be one result: “This is our victory.” On the way to this “victory” one approaches the important points “step by step”. “We are moving in the right direction,” wrote Stefantschuk.
But the Ukrainian people have already paid for their independence with the lives of many citizens. “It is important to us to restore security and to receive guarantees for the safe functioning of our state,” continued Stefanchuk.
With regard to the recognition of the breakaway areas, the self-proclaimed “People’s Republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk, which Moscow is demanding, he stressed that these still lie within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.