Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that US President Donald Trump is exerting unreasonable pressure on him in an attempt to end the war, Reuters reports.
Speaking to the US website Axios, Zelensky said that Ukrainians would reject in a referendum the demand to give up to Russia those parts of the Donbas region that Moscow do not control. In an interview published on the 17th of February, the Ukrainian president said that it was unfair that the US president continued to publicly mention only that Ukraine should make concessions, while not talking about the concessions that Russia should make as part of the peace plan. Zelensky indicated that he hoped that this was just a tactic, not a decision by Trump.
Trump has repeatedly said in recent days that the successful outcome of the talks depends on the positions of Zelensky and Ukraine. He stressed on the 16th of February that Ukraine must act quickly.
Zelensky suggested in an interview with Axios that it may be easier to put pressure on Ukraine than on Russia.
He thanked Trump for his efforts to achieve peace
and said that the talks with US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were not surrounded by such pressure. He added that there was mutual respect and stressed that he was not someone who easily succumbs to pressure.
Ukraine’s compliance with Russia’s demand to return Donbas, of which Moscow currently controls about 88%, would be unacceptable to Ukrainians if it were decided in a referendum, Zelensky said. He noted that people would never forgive him or the US, and Ukrainians would not understand why their land had to be given up. The Ukrainian president added that freezing positions on the current front line could gain support.
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