President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that if NATO countries are not ready to accept Ukraine to the Alliance, it is necessary to work out certain security guarantees amid Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. This is what he said in his interview with Reuters and CNN.
“Today it was just a bombardment of Kharkiv. Two cruise missiles just hit Freedom Square, the state administration building, the city centre. What troops, what are we talking about? ... Now we have an official statement made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia about a missile strike on the building of the Security Service of Ukraine…” says Zelenskyy.
He notes that this building is situated in Kyiv, on Volodymyrska street, 200 meters away from Saint Sophia Cathedral.
“This is a sanctuary for everyone, not only religious people. They (Russians – ed.) are just hitting the old city, the old Kyiv, with rockets. The heart of Kyivan Rus… How do we protect these values? ... We asked you to impose them (sanctions – ed.) earlier — there won’t be any invasion. But you see what is happening,” says Zelenskyy.
The President of Ukraine emphasizes that he is ready to talk about security guarantees for Ukraine.
“If the partners are not ready to accept Ukraine into NATO… because Russia doesn’t want Ukraine to be in NATO, then there are security guarantees, worked out together. What does it mean? It means that we have our territorial integrity, our borders are protected, we have special relations with all neighbours, and we are perfectly safe. And the guarantors that guarantee our security do it in a legally correct way,” explains Zelenskyy.
He also emphasizes that he is ready to negotiate, but Russia has to stop the bombardment of Ukrainian cities before it becomes possible to start meaningful negotiations about a ceasefire.
“It is necessary to at least stop bombarding people, just stop it. And then we could sit down at the negotiating table,” states Zelenskyy.
We remind you that Zelenskyy told us about the negotiations in Gomel which took place at the initiative of the Russian side. They were going on amid bombardments and shootings on the territory of Ukraine. As a result, “a range of top-priority questions was defined and some solutions were mapped out”. Also, both sides agreed to hold another round of negotiations.