KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – Saturday, 21 May 2022, 11:31
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the agenda of bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even whether or not these bilateral talks will take place, will depend on what time they are held and how Russia behaves.
Source: Zelenskyy’s interview with Ukrainian journalists, broadcast on Saturday
Direct quote: “I think it depends on the moment when we meet. The objective changes… If we had met today, the issue of Mariupol would have been on the agenda; if we meet in two or three months, maybe this will not be an issue, or will be only partially.
If we had met at the very beginning, we would understand the situation in Ukraine. If we meet today, we know where is occupied and where is liberated. If we meet in two months – we don’t know what state everything will be in.
Resolving the issues of exchange, liberation and peace, putting an end to the war – that’s the whole agenda.”
Details: Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine wants the return of [its] territories and an end to the war. “But how this will be, and when it will be, depends on when the conversation with Putin takes place”, he said.
“I think there will definitely be a conversation between Ukraine and Russia. We do not know what format it will take – with mediators, without mediators, at presidential level, bilaterally or in a wider circle”, Zelenskyy noted.
He stated that Ukraine is working with its partner countries on an agreement on security guarantees, which does not envisage Russia’s participation.
“Today, everything has reached the point where this agreement provides for a circle of partner states around Ukraine without Russia. Security guarantors without Russia”, the president said.
He said there should be a separate bilateral conversation with the President of the Russian Federation. However, whether it takes place will also depend on how Russia behaves in the occupied territories and how it treats the Azovstal defenders.
“What will happen after we sign it and what sort of agreement it will be – we’ll see whether there will be a meeting or not, will there be an outcome from the horror of Mariupol, or will we go to Mariupol, Volnovakha and so on and see five Buchas, God forbid… Maybe there won’t be [a meeting – ed.] after that. How they treat the residents of Mariupol… Today we see that they found a way to keep these people (the Azovstal defenders) alive and they took them out. Next there will be an exchange. Much also depends on the results of these processes”, Zelenskyy stressed.
