President Zelensky’s ABC News interview is being looked at carefully, almost a day after it was conducted.
Zelensky said he is open to “compromise” on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent just before unleashing the invasion on February 24.
“I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that …NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelensky said in an interview aired Monday night on ABC News.
“The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia,” the president added.
“I’m talking about security guarantees. I think items regarding temporarily occupied territories and unrecognized republics that have not been recognized by anyone but Russia, these pseudo-republics. But we can discuss and find the compromise on how these territories will live on. What is important to me is how the people in those territories are going to live who want to be part of Ukraine.
However, he reaffirmed in the interview that Ukraine is not ready to compromise based on “ultimatums”. Previously Zelensky said he wouldn’t negotiate based on a “gun at this head” – and so far the talks have been focused on establishing local pauses in fighting for the sake of civilian evacuations of cities. “I’m ready for dialogue, we’re not ready for capitulation,” he said.
The entire interview is here:
