President Volodymyr Zelensky suggests that Ukraine's membership in NATO could in practice apply to territory controlled by Ukraine. In an interview with CBN News, he noted that Kiev does not want to drag other countries into the war.
In an interview with CBN, the television network founded by renowned evangelical pastor Pat Robertson, Volodymyr Zelensky he said that “only an invitation to NATO and security guarantees under the NATO umbrella will give a real sense of security, help end the war and make Putin realize that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance.”
The president emphasized that he understood that Ukraine can't join NATO during the war and that he “does not want to engage the troops of other countries.” – But if we want to end this war, we must receive an invitation, an invitation to the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, this is not subject to discussion, Zelensky said.
Immediately afterwards, however, he added that despite the formal invitation to all of Ukraine, in practice the guarantees could apply only to the territory controlled by Ukraine, “with the future understanding that this will later be extended to the entire territory.”
Zelensky: our goals are lasting peace
The president of Ukraine suggested that although he cannot legally recognize Russia's annexation of occupied lands because it would “tear Ukraine and Ukrainian society apart,” he “does not rule it out in practice.”
– Diplomatically, we have to figure out a way to achieve our goals. And our goals are lasting peace and achieving it as quickly as possible, he emphasized.
Volodymyr ZelenskyPresidential Office of Ukraine/PAP
Zelensky expressed confidence that he would reach an agreement with Donald Trump. He added that the fact that Trump is perceived as a “strong president will help Ukraine achieve peace through strength.”
– He really wants to end this war. And we, Ukrainians, really want to end this war. He understands that America cannot lose. America cannot appear weak. Because then it won't end in Ukraine. If the United States' position is not strong, wars will break out in all corners of the world, Zelensky said. He mentioned the Balkans and the Baltic states, but also the “Pacific region”.
Zelensky about Trump and the situation in Georgia
Zelensky said that although he spoke with Trump by phone and met with him in Paris, and their teams maintain contact, only after Trump's inauguration will it be possible to talk about specific solutions to ending the war.
The Ukrainian president also drew attention to the situation in Georgiacriticizing current actions USA and the European Union in the face of the pacification of protests by authorities with ties to Russia.
– They (the US and the EU) have not put Russia where it belongs. And all these young boys and girls, all the students who go out on the streets, they want to live in a peaceful European country, and they are forced to turn to the Russian Federation, he said.
CBN is a television station that has existed since the 1960s and is influential in evangelical right circles. As the station's journalist John Jessup stated in his discussion of the conversation with Zelensky, the interview with the Ukrainian president was, among other things, the result of the intervention of Ukrainian Protestants, who in the US, according to Jessup, together with evangelicals, also had a major influence on the decision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson to unblock aid funds for Ukraine in April.
Main photo source: Presidential Office of Ukraine/PAP