Tuesday, August 27, 2024 - Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday, August 27 that the war with Russia would eventually end in dialogue, saying he was planning to present and his two potential successors, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian leader, addressing a news conference, said
Kyiv's three-week-old incursion into Russia's Kursk region was part of that
plan, but that it also comprised other steps on the economic and diplomatic
fronts.
"It will end with
dialogue. The main point of this plan is to force Russia to end the war. And I
want that very much - (that it would be) fair for Ukraine," he told
reporters in Kyiv of the war launched by Russia's full-scale invasion in February
2022.
Zelenskiy said he hoped to go to the United States in
September to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York and that he was
preparing to meet Biden.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov said on Aug. 19 that
talks on a peace plan were out of the question after Ukraine launched a major
cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region on Aug. 6.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Kyiv last
week, spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and told
him he supported an early and peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict.
Zelenskiy has been adamant that Russia wants to dictate
terms to Ukraine in any settlement of the war, something that Kyiv sees as
unacceptable.
Putin has said any deal needs to start with Ukraine's
acceptance of "realities on the ground", that would leave Russia with
possession of four Ukrainian regions as well as Crimea.
As it stands now, Ukraine says it controls more than 1,200
square km (463 sq miles) of Russia's Kursk region, giving it more cards to play
on the negotiation table.
"There can be no
compromises with Putin, dialogue today is in principle empty and meaningless
because he does not want to end the war diplomatically," Zelenskiy said at
the news conference.
He said the offensive into the Kursk region had reduced the
number of governments around the world calling for Ukraine to make compromises
with Russia to end the war and give up swathes of territory.
On the battlefield, Zelenskiy criticized Putin, saying the
Russian dictator was prioritising the capture of Ukrainian land over the
defence of Russia's own territory.
He pointed to the Kursk region where Ukraine has claimed the
capture of 100 settlements, while Russian forces continue to inch forward in
the eastern Donetsk region.
Zelensky also said that Kyiv had conducted its first test of
a domestically produced ballistic missile.
0 Comments