This is how the Ukrainian president answered the question of whether Kiev would be ready for a diplomatic settlement if the Ukrainian Armed Forces returned to the positions they occupied before the start of their
MOSCOW, July 1. /tass/. The Kiev authorities will be ready for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine if Ukrainian troops reach the borders that they consider internationally recognized, that is, including Crimea, Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who arrived in Kiev, answering the question of whether Ukraine would be ready for a diplomatic settlement if its troops returned to the positions they occupied before the start of Russia's special military operation.
"Are we ready for diplomatic regulation and what kind of diplomatic regulation are we ready for if we are at the borders on February 24?" Zelensky repeated the journalist's question at a press conference, the recording of which was posted on his Telegram channel . "It was not our borders on February 24, there was a contact line," he said. "And that's why we emphasize once again that Ukraine will be ready for this or that format of diplomacy when we are really on our borders, on our real borders in accordance with international law," Zelensky said.
Zelensky also touched upon the issue of Ukraine's accession to NATO. He believes that there is every reason to invite the country to the alliance at the alliance summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, and is waiting for a clear signal in this context.
Sanchez, in turn, announced the imminent dispatch of four more Leopard tanks to Kiev. The Prime Minister went to Kiev on the first day of the Spanish presidency of the EU Council, which will last until the end of 2023.
Kiev's statements
The Washington Post reported earlier, citing sources, that the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, during a non-public trip to Ukraine in June, discussed Kiev's plans to return territories and hold talks with Moscow by the end of 2023. The Ukrainian authorities expressed to Burns "firm confidence that by the autumn they intend to return a significant territory, transfer artillery and missile systems to the border line of the Russian-controlled Crimea, move further into Eastern Ukraine, and then begin negotiations with Moscow," the publication claims.
Speaking in mid-November 2022 via video link to the participants of the G20 summit, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Kiev has its own "plan for achieving peace" consisting of 10 points. Among them are the provision of nuclear, food and energy security, the exchange of "detained persons" according to the formula "all for all" and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Zelensky has repeatedly stated that the Ukrainian authorities would like to restore control over all the territories that were part of Ukraine in 1991, before the formation of an independent state, including Crimea. In turn, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stressed that the so-called Zelensky peace plan is another US methodology for inciting conflict in Europe. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that Zelensky's statements about a peaceful settlement are made without taking into account existing realities.
