President Zelensky admits he has ‘cooled down’ over Ukraine’s bid to join NATO and says ‘the alliance is afraid of confrontation with Russia… we don’t want to beg on our knees’
President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has ‘cooled’ on Ukrainian demands to join NATO and is open to talks on the future of Russian-occupied regions, opening the door to a possible diplomatic solution to Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Zelensky, who has become a beacon of defiance to Russian aggression since the war began almost two weeks ago, said on Monday night that it appears NATO is not willing to accept Ukraine as a member and he is not willing ‘to beg on my knees’.
He also said that he is ‘open to dialogue’ on the future of Crimea, Luhansk and Donbass – three regions occupied by Russia before the invasion which Putin wants to break away from Ukraine – but is not willing to accept ‘ultimatums’.
Such rhetoric, while falling short of Russian demands, does at least open up the possibility of a deal to end fighting ahead of high-level negotiations due to take place between the to sides in Turkey tomorrow.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC News on Monday night that he has ‘cooled’ on Ukrainian demands to join NATO
Ahead of the invasion, Putin had been demanding that Ukraine is banned from ever joining NATO as chief among several ‘security guarantees’ sought by Moscow.
He has since added that Ukraine must accept Donetsk and Luhansk – two eastern regions which border Russia and which have been occupied by pro-Russian rebels since 2014 – as independent republics, in line with moves by Moscow.
Crimea, Putin says, should be recognised as part of Russia itself. The peninsula has been occupied by Russian troops, also since 2014.
An Ukrainian tank rolls along a main road on March 8. President Zelensky said that he is ‘open to dialogue’ on the future of Crimea, Luhansk and Donbass
A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 8
Speaking to ABC News on Monday night from his presidential office in Kyiv, Zelensky said he is ‘ready for a dialogue’ with Putin over the issues but is ‘not ready for a capitulation.’
‘Regarding NATO, I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,’ he said.
‘The alliance is afraid of controversial things and afraid of confrontation with Russia. I don’t want to go begging on my knees.
‘Regarding temporary occupied territories and unrecognised republics… we can discuss and find a compromise about how these territories will live on.
‘What is important to me is about how the people in those territories who still want to be part of Ukraine will live.’
Zelensky’s remarks, particularly around NATO membership, mark a significant climbdown on pre-invasion rhetoric – which was that banning Ukraine from the alliance was a ‘non-starter’.