Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in the course of the briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
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Efrem Lukatsky/AP
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated he hopes the US will apply “most further sanctions” on Russia if it refuses to simply accept a 30-day ceasefire and described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “bravado” response as a stalling tactic.
“The Russians say, for instance, ‘We help a ceasefire, however …’ After which after the ‘however,’ they begin coming with numerous particulars to delay the method,” Zelenskyy stated Friday in a gathering with Ukrainian and worldwide information media, together with NPR.
Zelenskyy’s feedback capped per week of intense dialogue about the way to cease Russia’s conflict on Ukraine. The Trump administration has held separate conferences with Ukrainian and Russian officers this week. On Tuesday, Ukraine agreed to enact a 30-day ceasefire, however to this point Russia has needed to set additional circumstances earlier than reaching a short-term truce.
If Russia agrees to a short-term ceasefire, Zelenskyy stated it will be potential to watch violations utilizing satellite tv for pc knowledge, joint intelligence with Ukraine’s allies and reconnaissance drones. “Air protection protections should be 100%,” he stated, if there is a danger of a renewed Russian invasion.
After a ceasefire, Zelenskyy stated probably the most tough subject is coping with Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Zelenskyy stated this got here up in talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, between Ukraine’s group and the Trump administration representatives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz.
“Our companions know our purple strains, that we don’t acknowledge the occupied territories as territories of Russia, and we’ll by no means acknowledge them,” Zelenskyy stated.
Talking within the Oval Workplace on Thursday, Trump introduced up “a really huge energy plant” when speaking about potential territorial concessions, doubtless a reference to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant within the Ukrainian metropolis of Enerhodar. This nuclear energy plant, which isn’t producing electrical energy proper now, is the most important in Europe and has been underneath Russian occupation since 2022.
“You possibly can’t simply say, right here is the plant and the town is separate,” he stated.
Zelenskyy additionally spoke about Kursk, the area in western Russia that Ukraine occupied final summer time in a shock incursion that embarrassed the Kremlin. Since November, with the assistance of North Korean troops, Russia has pushed the Ukrainians out of most of space.
Putin claimed on Thursday that his troops had cornered Ukrainian troopers in Kursk. Trump appeared to echo that in a social media submit, saying “THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY” and calling on Putin to spare their lives. Talking earlier than Russia’s Safety Council on Friday, Putin stated if the Ukrainian forces “lay down their arms and give up, they are going to be assured life and respectable therapy.”
On Friday, Ukraine’s army denied that its troops had been encircled and stated Russia had claimed this “for political functions and to place stress on Ukraine and its companions.”
Zelenskyy acknowledged that the state of affairs for Ukrainian troops in Kursk “is clearly very tough” however that they’d completed their most important goal: diverting Russian troops from the beleaguered japanese metropolis of Pokrovsk, which has been underneath assault for months.
NPR Producer Hanna Palamarenko contributed from Kyiv.
