Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv on 2 December. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told French daily Le Parisien that the Armed Forces of Ukraine lack the strength to recover Crimea and Donbas militarily in an interview published Tuesday.
Zelensky was asked what compromises he was willing to make to bring the war in Ukraine to an end and whether he could hand over Crimea and Donbas, both of which Russia has formally annexed, “at least temporarily”.
“We cannot give up our territory. The Ukrainian constitution prevents us from doing so. These areas are now de facto under Russian control. We lack the strength to recover them. We can only count on diplomatic pressure from the international community to force Putin to sit down at the negotiating table,” Zelensky answered.
When asked whether he was personally ready to negotiate with Vladimir Putin, he said that Ukraine didn’t mind “who was sitting across the table”, as it was the position they negotiated from that was important. He stressed that Kyiv was in neither a weak nor strong position, saying the Ukrainian authorities did not know whether the country would be welcomed into NATO, or when it would be able to join the European Union.
“Sitting down at the negotiating table with Putin in these conditions would mean giving him the right to dictate everything in our part of the world,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine needed to develop a “plan of action or a peace plan” that they could present to Putin “and to Russians more broadly”.
Zelensky also said that no world leader could negotiate with Putin without Ukraine’s involvement. “We have not delegated that right to anyone. We are the victims here,” Zelensky said.
