President Volodymyr Zelensky, in response to a question about territorial concessions for the sake of Ukraine’s membership in NATO, said that Ukraine was ready to exchange Russian Belgorod for membership in the Alliance.
Source: Zelensky at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen
Direct speech: “Exchange of territories? We are ready to exchange Belgorod for our NATO membership.”
Details: Thus, Zelensky commented on proposals to exchange the territory of Ukraine for peace and NATO membership.
Frederiksen noted that Ukraine will decide for itself whether to negotiate peace and when.
According to Zelensky, it is difficult to criticize the Ukrainian counteroffensive when the fighters do not have the appropriate weapons. According to him, Ukraine will not risk the lives of thousands of defenders for the sake of advancing up to 5-8 km when there is no powerful weapon.
He noted that while Ukraine was preparing for a counteroffensive, the Russians really dug in, mined the territory and built their defenses, but they have been doing all this since 2014.
Recall:
- President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in the Netherlands ruled out the possibility of “exchanging something” for Ukrainian territories. Thus, he commented on the likelihood of peace talks with the Russian Federation.
- On August 15, NATO Secretary General’s Chief of Staff Stian Jenssen admitted that Ukraine could become a member of the Alliance in exchange for “relinquishing” part of its territory .
- Subsequently, he called his words about a possible scenario for Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance in exchange for territorial concessions to Russia, said the day before, a “mistake”.
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on Jenssen’s remarks, said that Ukraine should decide for itself when the conditions come for joining any negotiations after the Russian invasion.
Source : Українська Правда