Volodymyr Zelensky: “I am ready to talk to Vladimir Putin, but without an ultimatum”

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyis “willing to talk” with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin“but without an ultimatum”, and also for an exchange with Moscow that allows “saving the living and removing the dead” from the Azovstal steelworks, he says in a television interview that will be broadcast this Thursday night and of which the Italian media publish a preview.

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Zelensky He maintains on RAI public television that negotiations with Moscow are difficult because “every day the Russians occupy villages, many people have left their homes, have been killed by the Russians” and Ukrainian citizens are suffering “torture and murder”, which which “complicates things a lot”.

Regarding the situation in Azovstal, the Ukrainian president stated: “We are doing everything possible, we have given the information to the Russians; Switzerland and Turkey are involved in this matter, and I also spoke with the President of Finland (Sauli Ninisto), who will speak with Putin”.

He justifies that the Russian army must leave the country as soon as possible and answer for what it has done, and rejects the possibility of finding “a way out for Russia“: “I know that Putin he wanted to achieve a result but he has not achieved it. That we are proposed to deliver something to save the face of the Russian president is not fair. Ukraine is not going to save someone’s face by paying ”with her territories.

In this sense, he assures that at no time has he considered “recognizing the independence of Crimea”, annexed by Russia in 2014, and argues that Crimea “has always been Ukrainian territory.”

“Ukraine wants peace, very normal things like respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, the traditions of the people, the language. They may be trivial things but they have been violated by Russia and must be returned”, he points out, while noting that the Ukrainians must win the conflict because “they have no right to lose it after the tens of thousands of deaths” that have occurred.

In addition, he acknowledges that the Russian army is “four times larger, its state is eight times larger”, but that the Ukrainians are “ten times stronger as a person” because they are on its territory.

“For us, victory is getting our stuff back, for them it’s stealing something. We are not on an equal footing, Russia is stronger, but the world is with us and we feel that little by little we are achieving it. Draghi is right, we can win because we are fighting for the truth and we are not alone”, she exposes.

Zelensky He also mentions the pope to say that Ukrainians are “very grateful” and trust Francis, but adds that one cannot “accept that image of two people walking side by side holding the Russian and Ukrainian flags, because” the Russian flag is synonymous with occupation, it is the flag under which they are killing us”.

The Ukrainian president does not go into detail about what situation he is referring to, although during the Way of the Cross held at the Colosseum last April, a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carried the cross together at the 13th station, which reflects the death of Christ, as a sign of reconciliation.

The interview of Zelensky It takes place after the Mediaset group broadcast the first interview of a European media with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on May 1, who was able to make statements without being cross-examined by the journalist and even compared the Ukrainian president with Adolf Hitler for his “Hebrew origins”, among other things.

Source: Elcomercio

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