The main purpose of a possible conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Volodymyr Putin is to end the war. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stated this in an interview with Radio Svoboda.
Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – May 2, 2021 – Ukraine News
On April 27, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin could discuss bilateral relations with his Ukrainian counterpart, but not the situation in Donbas.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is, by definition, a bilateral relationship. That is why here is the art of diplomatic interpretation, which we can resort to indefinitely. But we understand that the main purpose of President Zelensky’s conversation with President Putin is to end the war in Ukraine, to reoccupy our territories, ”Kuleba said.
He added that the territories mean both Donbas and Crimea.
In a video address on April 20, Zelensky invited Putin to meet “anywhere” in the Donbas where the conflict is taking place. Addressing Russia, the Ukrainian president also noted that the different views of Kyiv and Moscow on the past and future can be seen not as a problem but as an opportunity.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to meet in Donbas on April 22, saying he was ready to discuss bilateral relations with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky at any convenient time in Moscow and advised to talk to DNR and LNR about Donbas first.
On April 26, Zelensky instructed Chief of Staff Andrei Yermak to arrange a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Against the background of such statements, the leaders of the DNR and LNR also invited Zelensky to Donbas. The possibility of such talks was initially ruled out by Oleksiy Arestovych, a representative of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG on the settlement of the situation in Donbas. “Our position is fundamental, it is that no negotiations with the so-called” LPR “and” DPR “will be and can not be, even in a conventional space, in the mode of” fiction on the second floor, “- he said.
Zelensky also stated that he would not talk to terrorists.
Subsequently, talks began about the Vatican as a meeting place for Zelensky and Putin.
Read Also: Why Zelensky Invited Putin to Donbass
Source: Ukrgate