In a response to journalists during a meeting with German politician Friedrich Merz, the Ukrainian president confirmed that he had discussed a diplomatic end to the war at a meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and US election winner Donald Trump. During the conversation, he stressed that Ukraine was ready for diplomacy, but Vladimir Putin was not - he did not want to.
Therefore, he told his partners that Putin could only be forced to end the war, and he could only be forced if Ukraine was strong. First of all, on the battlefield.
‘This is a strong army, these are weapons packages and so on, these are long-range systems, of course, and Atacams, Tauruses, Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles. We really, really need all of these. And yes, we are emphasising this exclusively for strikes against military targets,’ Zelenskyy said.
In addition to strengthening, Ukraine also needs security guarantees. Although the country cannot become a NATO member now, it could receive an invitation.
‘I'm going to call President Biden in the near future, if he has the opportunity to talk to me, and raise the issue of an invitation to NATO. Because he is the current President of the United States, and a lot depends on his position. And there is no point in discussing with President Trump something that does not depend on him today, while he is not yet in the White House,’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy added.
The President noted that if there is a pause in the war while Ukraine is not in NATO, who will guarantee us any security?
‘We can think and work on Emmanuel's position. He suggested that some part of the troops of a country should be present on the territory of Ukraine to guarantee our security while Ukraine is not in NATO. But before that, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the EU and when Ukraine will be in NATO. Understanding our future, these would be very effective guarantees,’ he said.