Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Friday (September 10) that a full-scale war may break out with neighboring Russia, and he hopes to have a substantive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Asked at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit whether it is really possible to go to full-scale war with Russia, Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and supported the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky said : “I think it can.”
“This is the worst thing that can happen, but unfortunately there is such a possibility,” he added in Ukrainian.
Kiev stated that since 2014, conflicts in eastern Ukraine have caused 14,000 deaths.
Zelensky said that relations with the United States have improved, but regretted that Ukraine’s request to join the NATO military alliance has not been clearly answered-a move that will certainly anger Moscow.
“We have not received… the direct position on Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” he said. “Ukraine has been preparing for a long time.”
Priorities for attendance @乔拜登 It is a safety issue.Especially in safety #Donbass, In the occupied Crimea, in the Black Sea-Azov region and the energy security of 🇺🇦 and 🇪🇺.We handed over the list of nearly 450 detained Ukrainians @POTUS Together they demanded their release. pic.twitter.com/aErH0L1HJm
-Vladimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) September 1, 2021
He said that refusing to recognize Ukraine would weaken NATO and would also fall into the hands of Russia.
Earlier this year, fighting intensified in eastern Ukraine, Russia gathered more troops near the border, and tensions between Kiev and Moscow increased.
Moscow accused Ukraine of losing interest in peace negotiations, while Zelensky pushed to meet Putin in conflict areas, but to no avail.
“To be honest, I don’t have time to think about him,” Zelensky said on Friday.
He added: “I’m more interested in whether we can actually meet in substance, rather than in a declarative way like he did with certain states.”
“In my opinion, today… they don’t see the meaning of solving the problem. End the war and resolve the conflict as soon as possible-they don’t want this.”
