NewsZelensky ready for Putin talks if it ensures peace

Zelensky ready for Putin talks if it ensures peace

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, for the first time since the full-scale war in Ukraine began, stated that he is prepared to sit opposite Vladimir Putin. "I am ready to sit across from Putin at the negotiating table if it is the only option for achieving peace," he said.

A handout photo made available by the Presidential Press Service shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, 04 February 2025. Grossi is in Ukraine as part of ongoing efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency to assist Ukraine in ensuring nuclear safety and security. This is Grossi's 11th visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022. EPA/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES Dostawca: PAP/EPA.
A handout photo made available by the Presidential Press Service shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, 04 February 2025. Grossi is in Ukraine as part of ongoing efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency to assist Ukraine in ensuring nuclear safety and security. This is Grossi's 11th visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022. EPA/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES Dostawca: PAP/EPA.
Images source: © PAP | PAP/EPA/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT
Mateusz Czmiel

Material updated

Zelensky's declaration came during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.

- If achieving peace and preserving human lives requires sitting at the same table with Putin during negotiations, then we will certainly take such a step - said President Zelensky.

It should be recalled that in the fall of 2022, Zelensky issued a decree prohibiting Ukrainian politicians - aside from Volodymyr Zelensky - from negotiating with Putin.

So far, the President of Ukraine has not indicated readiness to revoke this decree.

Zelensky added that since the beginning of the full-scale war with Russia, about 45,000 people have died, and approximately 390,000 have been injured.

The Ukrainian president expressed openness to holding presidential elections, emphasizing that they cannot take place during martial law.

Zelensky acknowledged that "the current support provided by partners is not sufficient to completely drive Russia out of the occupied territories of Ukraine."

- Unfortunately, the support we receive from our partners is not sufficient for us to completely push Putin from our land. However, we will reclaim our territories – it could be a mixed approach: part militarily on the battlefield, as our soldiers are doing, and part through diplomatic means. But in any case, we will reclaim our land because we are in the right and have not violated any aspect of international law or moral law – Zelensky said.

In the same interview, the President of Ukraine mentioned that "Western partners should provide nuclear weapons to Ukraine if it is not admitted to NATO."

Zelensky noted that Ukraine's entry into NATO may stretch on "for years or decades," raising the question of what will protect it "from this evil all that time."

- What support package, what missiles? In that case, let them give us nuclear weapons – he said.