Zelenskyy: Ukraine needs a strong position for negotiations with Russia

“Provided that Ukraine is not alone with Russia, that Ukraine is strong. What kind of negotiations can be held with a murderer? If we are talking just with Putin, just with a murderer, in the conditions in which we are now, without some important elements, then this is a losing status of negotiations for Ukraine to start with,” he said.

Zelenskyy says that US President-elect Donald Trump's position on Ukraine is important. According to him, a change in US policy depends on a change in Trump's mood.

“Therefore, mediation always has certain challenges for me. Anyone can be a mediator, but you can't say in the abstract, 'I'm a mediator, so I can't choose one side or the other. No. It cannot be the case in unconditional values and violation of international law,” the head of state said.

Zelenskyy added that the United States should maintain its position of support that Ukraine is a victim and Russia is an aggressor and violator of international law. This should be one of the points at the beginning of negotiations on any platform.

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia

Ukraine and Russia are not currently holding peace talks. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the only negotiations that Ukraine and Russia are holding are on the exchange of prisoners of war.

However, Western media reported that the parties allegedly began preliminary discussions on suspending strikes on each other's energy infrastructure” with the mediation of Qatar. Both Ukraine and the Kremlin denied this.

Donald Trump recently said that on his first day back in the White House, he wanted to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table. Zelenskyy warned the United States against a “quick” end to the war.