“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world to respond to negotiations in Istanbul if the delegation of small officials, which was sent by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for negotiations with Ukraine, will be only theater. Zelensky said this at a plenary session of the European political community summit in Albania. The Head of State stressed that this week was a real opportunity to take steps to complete the war if Putin was not afraid”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world to respond to negotiations in Istanbul if the delegation of small officials, which was sent by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for negotiations with Ukraine, will be only theater.
Zelensky said this at a plenary session of the European political community summit in Albania.
The head of state stressed that this week there was a real opportunity to take steps to end the war, if Putin was not afraid to come to Turkey.
Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that he was ready for a personal meeting with the dictator, whether in Ankara, or in Istanbul to solve all the significant problems. However, Putin disagreed, and a low -level delegation arrived from Russia.
No member of this delegation makes decisions in Russia, the head of Ukraine added.
“Nevertheless, I sent our team to Istanbul under the chairmanship of the Minister of Defense with the hope that something would be resolved. Our main priority is the complete and unconditional ceasefire. To stop murder and a basis for diplomacy was created first of all. And Russian representatives in Istanbul cannot even go to this ceasefire, which is obviously the first necessary step. And it is obvious that Putin continues to undermine the foundations of democracy and diplomacy, ”he said.
Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul has the authority to make decisions, but Russia sent almost the same persons to Turkey as in 2022. In his opinion, it can be seen that Russia has not changed its basic approach.
“They make many statements, threats, but it does not decide. They do their best to turn this meeting in Istanbul into something empty, as in 2022. Not we and not Western leaders interfere with this process. The Russians send people without negotiation. And this is what destroys the essence of diplomacy. If it turns out that the Russian delegation is just a theater, then the world has to respond. There should be a powerful reaction, ”Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president added that the answer to Putin’s act should be sanctions against the energy sector and the banks of the Russian Federation. Zelensky stressed that the pressure should be continued until real progress is made.
“Ukraine is ready to take all realistic steps to finish this war. And we need a complete cessation of killings to give a real chance of diplomacy, ”he said.
Zelensky also noted that another necessary step is to build at least a minimal process of trust in the negotiation process. This can be done through the exchange of prisoners of war, the return of Ukrainian children who were taken to the Russian Federation, and the release of civilians.
“We also need to clearly outline what problems we need to solve at the level of leaders, not at a lower level. We all really know who makes decisions in Russia, ”Zelensky added.
We will remind that in the office of the President of Turkey Dolmabakhche in Istanbul there were negotiations of the delegation of Ukraine and the aggressor country. The Russian delegation was late for 13 minutes.
Earlier it was reported that the Russian delegation does not want to negotiate the war in the presence of American representatives. They also require Turkey’s representative to leave the negotiation hall after the greeting word.
An hour before these negotiations in Istanbul there were negotiations on the settlement of war in Ukraine between delegations of Ukraine, the USA and Turkey. Before that, the Ukrainian team met with representatives of the United States and Turkey. The meeting took place before the negotiations of Ukraine with the Russian side.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew to Istanbul a few hours before the negotiation began.
The delegation of Ukraine for almost two hours negotiated with representatives of the aggressor country. According to the media, the meeting is now over. About it reports CLASH REPORT, also confirmed by Russian propagandists.
