Zelenskyy: After ceasefire, there will be brief window of opportunity to end war
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (photo: Getty Images)
Ukraine will have a limited window of time from the start of a ceasefire to reaching an agreement on ending the war with Russia. This is due, in particular, to the Kremlin's practice of continually violating agreements, states President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Time magazine.
In response to a question about whether he expects Russia to repeatedly violate the ceasefire, the president noted that it doesn't even exist yet.
This interview was conducted before the negotiations between delegations from Ukraine, the US, and Russia in Saudi Arabia regarding the agreement on a ceasefire at sea and a ban on strikes against energy infrastructure. However, the transcript of the conversation was released today, March 25.
"But ever since 2014, they constantly broke the peace. Here’s the way I see it. They are going to violate it all the time. That is why the window of opportunity is very short between the point when we have a ceasefire, and the point at which we reach a deal to end the war," Zelenskyy said.
He added that it could be a very short period: a month, two, three, and that's it.
"After that it will be a question of morale within the military. We have 800,000 at arms," the Ukrainian president noted.
At the same time, Zelenskyy clarified that the issue is not just about finances, because if we don’t have an agreement on ending the war, it becomes a frozen conflict.
"And we can’t just keep living in a state of war. We need to open the borders. We need to liberalize many things. And we can do that if we sign an agreement," he explained.
According to the Ukrainian president, if the period between the ceasefire and the peace agreement is short, we might only see isolated violations here and there.
"That would not be a total collapse. But if the process drags on, it will all fall apart many times over. And we don’t know how that will end," Zelenskyy pointed out.
Negotiations between Ukraine, US, and Russia in Saudi Arabia regarding a possible ceasefire
As previously reported, negotiations between delegations from Ukraine, the US, and Russia took place over the past three days in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The discussions focused on, among other things, the details of a possible ceasefire regime during the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated that Kyiv and Washington held technical consultations and discussed the security of energy infrastructure and navigation in the Black Sea. Specifically, an agreement was reached on a complete ban on strikes against the energy infrastructure of both Ukraine and Russia.
It was also reported that the Kremlin released a final statement after talks between American and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia. The statement outlined certain conditions for a ceasefire with Ukraine at sea, including that it could only occur after the lifting of sanctions on several Russian companies and Rosselkhozbank.
In response, the White House also released its final statement following the negotiations in Riyadh, which differed slightly from the Russian version. Notably, Washington made no mention of lifting sanctions on Russia.
Reacting to this, on the evening of March 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of manipulation and lies regarding the ceasefire in the Black Sea and in the energy sector.
