President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to meet and negotiate with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin if he knows that the United States and Europe "will not abandon" Ukraine.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with the UK broadcaster ITV News

Details:The president was asked whether he was ready to meet with Putin for peace talks.

Quote: "If I had the understanding that America and Europe will not abandon us and they will support us and give us the security guarantees, I would be prepared for any format of negotiations."

Details:Asked whether he would agree to a freeze in hostilities along the current line of contact if Ukraine had security guarantees, Zelenskyy said: "It depends."

He noted that he would not want to freeze the front line because "several of our cities will suffer, which are cut off today by this contact line."

Quote:"But if there are such perspectives, understanding of how we will develop further after the end of war, that we can come to realistic diplomacy, we can get a just state of peace for Ukraine, for Ukrainians. Then, there needs to be an understanding of security guarantees.

If NATO says ‘we are ready to give you security guarantees, we are ready to give you NATO but we can't give you NATO in the midst of the conflict’ – that's fair. We would accept this, absolutely. So, there are a lot of questions. A lot of details. All of this needs to be discussed."

Background:

• Earlier, in an interview with UK journalist Piers Morgan, Zelenskyy said he was ready to negotiate with Putin if it was the only scheme to bring peace to Ukrainians.
• Later, the Kremlin stated that Moscow remained open to negotiations despite "concerns regarding the legitimacy" of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
• On 6 February, Zelenskyy expressed his readiness to hold talks with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, provided there is an understanding regarding ending the war.

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