Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday welcomed a new, “fundamentally different” approach from Moscow in its recent talks with Kyiv, stressing that Russia was no longer content to “just issue ultimatums”.
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Asked about statements on Friday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had mentioned “advances” in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, the Ukrainian president said he was “happy to have a signal from Russia”, during a conference of press in Kyiv broadcast on the Telegram account of the Ukrainian presidency.
During the last discussions, “we started talking”, and Moscow “no longer simply issues ultimatums”, which constitutes “a fundamentally different approach”, added Mr. Zelensky. According to him, over the past two years, Ukraine has approached Moscow “more than a dozen times”, “without ever having heard that a dialogue could take place”.
Mr. Zelensky made these remarks while a meeting took place Thursday between the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy in Turkey, the first at this level since the beginning of the conflict. Previously, three sessions of talks at the level of delegations had taken place, the first on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and the next two on the Polish-Belarusian border.
These talks are continuing by videoconference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, declining to give more details.
Mr. Zelensky, however, lamented that “Western partners (of Ukraine) are not sufficiently engaged” in this approach.
In terms of security guarantees, “Ukraine will not be able to trust Russia after this bloody war. Such security guarantees must be offered by other foreign leaders,” he said.