Ukraine is ready to engage in talks to end its nearly three-year war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview broadcast on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, the 4th of February, but he stressed that the US and Europe must also be part of any negotiations, reports Reuters.
US President Donald Trump has said that Washington and Moscow are already in contact on Ukraine, but a senior Russian diplomat said that direct contacts have not yet started.
In recent weeks, Zelenskyy has spoken of the need to negotiate a “just” end to the conflict.
“If people believe we must move to the diplomatic track, and I believe we are ready to move to the diplomatic track, there must be the U.S., Europe, Ukraine and Russia,” he told the British journalist.
HE SAID IF SITTING OPPOSITE PUTIN AT THE NEGOTIATING TABLE “IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN BRING PEACE TO THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE… WE WILL CERTAINLY CHOOSE THAT OPTION, a meeting WITH THESE FOUR participants”.
The Kremlin, whose forces have been making gains for months advancing in eastern Ukraine, said this week it was premature to consider four-party talks. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov again referred to Zelenskyy as an “illegitimate” leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly dismissed him as any kind of negotiator, saying Zelenskyy did not hold elections when his term expired in May 2024.
Ukraine has declared that elections are legally impossible while martial law is in force. In an interview, Zelenskyy rejected the Kremlin’s arguments, saying he was elected in 2019 with 73% of the vote.
Zelenskyy said he had always been open to elections, but that in times of war they needed “constitutional changes and serious legal adjustments”.
“The main issue is not only legal, but also human. How will the soldiers in the trenches vote? What about the millions of Ukrainians in the occupied territories. Do their votes no longer matter? And what about the eight million Ukrainians forced by the war to go abroad?”
Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, said last week that Washington wants Ukraine to hold elections by the end of the year, especially if Kyiv can agree on a ceasefire with Russia.
In his interview, Zelenskyy called for continued sanctions pressure on Russia and gave rare estimates of casualties on both sides in the nearly three-year conflict.
He estimated the number of Ukrainian casualties at 45 100 and the number of wounded at 390 000. Zelenskyy estimated Russian losses at 350 000 dead and between 600 000 and 700 000 wounded, with “many” Russian forces missing.
He also reiterated that Ukraine needs security guarantees to protect against future Russian actions. If Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO, which Russia has rejected, take longer, what kind of support could Ukraine receive, he asked.