Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fastest way to end the hot phase of the war is to hold the current positions, establish a ceasefire and move to negotiations. He also stressed that giving up Donbas in exchange for vague security guarantees would provide no certainty that Russia would not resume its aggression later.
Zelensky made the remarks in an interview with DR Nyheder, excerpts from which he published on his Telegram channel.
The president said that skepticism in some European countries toward further aid to Ukraine is not in their own interests.
“From a pragmatic point of view, having a strong Ukraine is important and even necessary. If European support stops, the consequences can only be dangerous or very dangerous,” Zelensky said.
According to him, in the first scenario, Russia could significantly intensify hybrid attacks against European countries. The president mentioned Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Finland and Denmark.
Zelensky described further Russian expansion into Europe as the more dangerous scenario. In his view, Vladimir Putin seeks to restore Moscow’s influence over former Soviet countries, including the Baltic states and Moldova.
The president stressed that if the Baltic states, which are NATO members, came under threat, the Alliance would have to respond, drawing in Europe and the United States.
Zelensky also pointed to risks in the Baltic Sea.
“Russia could block the Baltic Sea in the same way it blocks the Black Sea,” he said.
Zelensky on Donbas in exchange for security guarantees
The president also addressed the possibility of giving up Ukrainian territory in exchange for peace.
“Giving away Ukrainian land for peace is just an abstract phrase,” Zelensky said.
He recalled that before the full-scale invasion, Russian authorities spoke about Donbas, but in 2022 Russian forces attempted to seize Kyiv.
Zelensky also said that the U.S. side had raised the question of whether Ukraine could “trade Donbas for security.”
“That is why, when the Americans asked, ‘Can you trade Donbas for security?’, I immediately replied, ‘Can you tell me what that means? What kind of security? NATO?’” the president said.
According to him, the response was: “Not NATO, but something similar to NATO.”
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine has already had negative experience with security arrangements: the country gave up its nuclear weapons, later did not receive NATO membership and was then subjected to Russian aggression.
“No one believes that Putin will stop if we leave Donbas. He will pause. And then he will come back in one, two or five years,” the president said.
“We stop where we are”
Speaking about a possible path to ending the war, Zelensky said the sides should stop at their current positions, establish a ceasefire and move to diplomacy.
“The fastest way to end Russia’s war is to hold the positions and move to negotiations. And here it is very important what we decided: we stop where we are, cease fire and move to the diplomatic track,” Zelensky said.
According to him, further negotiations could last for months or even longer, but a ceasefire would make it possible to end the hot phase of the war and stop people from being killed.
The president said that many difficult issues would still have to be addressed afterward, including the line of contact, the mandate of a monitoring mission, possible demilitarized zones, the involvement of European partners and Ukraine’s reconstruction.
“Thousands of questions, but this is exactly the format that makes it possible to stop the war — a ceasefire,” Zelensky stressed.
According to him, if Putin insists on first agreeing on a broad package of complex issues and only then stopping the fighting, that indicates that Russia does not want to end the war quickly.
“Dialogue is better than weapons. That is why the best way to end this war is to replace weapons with words,” the president concluded.
Earlier, “Glavnoe in Ukraine” reported that Zelensky had allowed for the possibility of halting hostilities along the current front line. According to him, after a ceasefire, Ukraine would need reliable security guarantees from the United States and European allies.
