President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the war between russia and Ukraine will end in victory for the Ukrainians, but the final issues will be resolved at the negotiating table, - stated in an interview with Zelensky by Ukrainian TV journalists.
According to Zelensky, he used to think that the war could be ended "purely through dialogue" and that there was an "appropriate term" in which "answers to many questions and many solutions" could be found.
"And now it [negotiations between Ukraine and russia - ed.] is like a car, not a petrol one and not an electric one, but a hybrid, so the war is so difficult, and victory will be very difficult, it will be bloody, it will definitely be in battle, but the end will definitely be defined by diplomacy. I'm sure of that," Zelensky said.
Zelensky believes that some issues between Ukraine and russia will not be resolved anywhere but at the negotiating table.
"Because we want to return everything, and russia wants to keep it, in other words - not to give anything," the president added.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said it was important to maintain pressure on russia through economic sanctions, "because we have to put Moscow at the negotiating table."
As of now, the negotiation process between Ukraine and russia has been suspended. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Head of the President's Office, said that until russia is ready to completely liberate Ukraine, our negotiating platform is weapons, sanctions and money.
Ukraine and russia had a preliminary face-to-face round of talks on March 29 in Istanbul. After that, the negotiations took place online.