Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expects Europe and the United States to participate in any negotiations on ending the country’s war with Russia, he said on Saturday.
During a news conference with Moldova’s President Maia Sandu, Zelenskiy said Ukraine must also be involved in any discussions about ending the conflict, so that such conversations have a significant impact.
“As far as the structure of the negotiations: Ukraine, I really hope that Ukraine participates, the United States, Europe and the Russians,” the President said, then explaining how it would happen. “Yes, I would really like Europe to participate because we will be members of the European Union.”
Zelenskiy said he believed US President Donald Trump could end the war but only get involved in Ukraine in negotiations.
“Otherwise, it won’t work. Because Russia doesn’t want the war to end while Ukraine does,” he added.
During his campaign, Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, but his advisers have since said a deal could take months.
The US president has expressed his desire to talk to his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin about ending the war.
On Friday, Putin said he would like to meet Trump to talk about Ukraine. He cited a 2022 decree issued by Zelenskiy, which includes a ban on negotiations with Putin, as a barrier to the deal.
At the press conference, Zelenskiy said that he issued that ban to stop forming other channels of communication with Ukrainian interlocutors.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to offer coal to Moldova, which is suffering an energy crisis after the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine was cut off earlier this month.
Most of Moldova is controlled by the authorities in Chisinau, but there is a significant minority of the population living in Transnistria, a region that claims autonomy after a violent conflict in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The region, which is home to the only electricity plant in the country, is feeling the impact of the energy crisis after losing its gas supply, warning that its supplies will soon run out.
“Russia’s latest measure was to orchestrate an energy crisis,” Sandu said in Kiev. “Those living in the Transnistria region of Moldova, held hostage to an unconstitutional Russian-backed regime for the past three decades, are now in the cold and dark.”
He said it was part of Russia’s strategy to cause chaos in his country to facilitate the entry of a pro-Russian government, an apparent nod to parliamentary elections due to take place this year.
Zelenskiy claimed that Ukraine can provide enough coal for Moldova or Transnistria to solve energy problems by reversing electricity prices by 30%.
“The absence of a crisis in Moldova is also interesting for Ukrainian security,” he said,
Source: Terra
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