The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenskystated that his country must accept that it will not become NATO member, despite the fact that the alliance says it maintains an “open door” policy. The president made these statements in a videoconference message to European leaders meeting in London.
“For years we have heard regarding the so-called open door, but we have also heard that we must not enter. And this is true, and I am glad that our people are beginning to understand this. We know that we must count only on ourselves,” Zelensky said.
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Zelenski also expressed that although NATO is the “strongest defense alliance in the world”, some of its members “are hypnotized by Russian aggression.” The latter in reference to the refusal of the Atlantic Alliance to apply a no-fly zone over Ukraine to prevent Russian attacks.
“We hear a lot regarding a Third World war, which would supposedly start if NATO closes the Ukrainian sky to Russian missiles and planes; thus, the humanitarian no-fly corridor has not yet been established,” he lamented.
“This allows the Russian Army to bomb peaceful cities and blow up blocks of flats, hospitals and schools,” he told the leaders gathered at the London palace of Lancaster House.
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The president criticized that many companies have not yet withdrawn from Russian territory and called on governments to block Russian ships from entering their ports and for all Russian banks to be excluded from the Swift financial messaging system.
He also requested more weapons: “They already know the type we need, everyone knows it,” he said, and said that the one they receive is used within 20 hours.
“He rightly challenges us to do more, and we all know that we can and must do more,” said Johnson, following once once more acknowledging the courage of the Ukrainian leader and people.
With information from EFE.
