Ukrainian first lady says Putin won't stop even if 'territory ceded'
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska dismissed Western leaders’ calls to concede some Ukrainian territories – notably the eastern Donbas region – to stop Vladimir Putin’s war. French President Emmanuel Macron and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called on Volodymyr Zelensky to make concessions to Putin, including giving up on parts of Ukraine’s territory to reach a peace deal with Russia.
On ABC News, First Lady Zelenska rejected the calls, saying: “You can’t just concede, like, parts of your territory.
“It’s like conceding a freedom.
“And besides, I would like to say that even if we would concede our territories, the aggressor would not stop at that.
“He would continue pressing.
“He would continue launching more and more steps forward, more and more attacks against our territory.”
“So, that is why the Ukrainians are not taking those statements normally, I would say”, Ms Zelenska said.
“Of course, the Ukrainians, they can’t take normally all those statements that we are sometimes hearing from the leader of the countries.
“In some cases of the leaders of, like, big and influential countries.”
Speaking at a conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called on the US and the West to avoid an embarrassing defeat to Putin and to push Ukraine to accept negotiations with a “status quo ante”, meaning a return to the existing state of affairs before the war.
With that statement, Mr Kissinger says Zelensky should give in the eastern Donbas region that Putin has been trying to conquer since 2014.
“Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself”, Mr Kissinger said.
President Zelensky rejected the calls on American news channel Newsmax on Wednesday, saying trading land for peace “is not something we can agree on.”
“The negotiations could be there, but there has to a sense, there has to be a willingness on the part of Russia to have those negotiations. So we’re not ready to accept any ultimatums”, President Zelensky said.
DON’T MISS:
Ukraine LIVE: Top colonels slam Putin’s failings in leaked call [LIVE]
‘Roots in Nazism’ – Putin’s ‘19th-century approach’ is a failure [REPORT]
Putin ‘has failed’ in Ukraine as Russian plot backfires [REPORT]
The First Lady added she “hopes” the American help will come soon, as Ukrainian troops are struggling to hold defence lines against Russian forces in the Donbas region and its two provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
The Luhansk’s city of Severodonetsk could soon fall into Russian control, as Russian troops have reportedly gained 80 percent of the industrial city.
President Zelensky warned the Luxembourg parliament today that Russia now controls 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory – a piece of land bigger than Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands put together.
Source: Read Full Article