Ukraine's president said the US was trying to 'please' Russian President Vladimir Putin by seeking to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, but he declared Ukraine 'will not sign anything just to be welcomed'.
AFP news agency on February 18 quoted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as saying that the US was trying to "please" Russia in negotiations on Ukraine, while warning about the weakness of European countries' armies.
Commenting on conciliatory statements towards Russia by some US officials, Mr Zelensky said that "the US now says things that are very beneficial to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin… because they want to please him".
President Trump: "Russia defeated Hitler, Napoleon," but Putin wants to end the Ukraine conflict
"They want to meet quickly and win quickly. But what they want is a ceasefire, not victory," Mr. Zelensky said in an interview with ARD Radio on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 15.
Last week, US President Donald Trump surprised many allies when he said he had spoken directly with President Putin in the process of quickly ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky speaks at a press conference in Kyiv
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also appeared to rule out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO or taking back territories that Russia has controlled since 2014.
On any future deals, Mr Zelensky said “we will not sign anything just to be applauded” and stressed that “the fate of our state for generations to come” was at stake.
He rejected the idea of making concessions on Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory, insisting "we will reclaim it all".
As European leaders were discussing the way forward in Paris, ARD aired an interview in which the Ukrainian president warned that Europe was in a weak position if it could not rely on the US security umbrella.
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While “readiness has increased” in recent years, “in terms of numbers, combat troops, fleets, air forces, drones… I actually think Europe is weak right now,” he said.
Ukraine has become more resilient over the past three years, the leader said, but “there can be no victory for Ukraine without the support of the United States.” The Ukrainian president said he and President Trump had talked about deploying foreign troops to monitor the ceasefire in the future.
"I told him that Americans should get involved in this, because otherwise we could lose our unity," he said.
Regarding the US-Russia negotiations, RT reported on February 17 that high-level delegations of the two countries will hold a dialogue in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) without the participation of a third country. President Putin's foreign policy assistant Yury Ushakov said the dialogue aims to lay the foundation for ending the conflict in Ukraine.
“The dialogue in Riyadh will be bilateral, between Russia and the United States,” according to Mr. Ushakov.
On the US side, The Hill reported that Mr. Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron before a meeting of European leaders about the conflict in Ukraine. A White House official said the call on February 17 was "friendly" and lasted about 30 minutes, during which the two sides talked about the conflict in Ukraine, meetings between European leaders and dialogue in Saudi Arabia between Russian and US officials.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tong-thong-zelensky-noi-my-muon-lay-long-tong-thong-putin-185250218095558039.htm
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