Zelensky says Ukraine ready to discuss neutrality in talks with Russia
Ukraine is ready to declare neutrality, abandon its drive to join Nato and vow to not develop nuclear weapons if Russia withdraws troops and Kyiv receives security guarantees, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Zelensky told Russian independent journalists yesterday that Kyiv was prepared to meet some of Moscow’s demands on the condition that the changes were put to a referendum and third parties promised to protect Ukraine. He said his main goal was to end the war as quickly as possible.
Washington, meanwhile, denied that it was seeking to overturn Vladimir Putin’s regime after Joe Biden appeared to call for the Russian president’s ousting in a speech in Warsaw on Saturday, saying: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
The US president’s increasingly vitriolic descriptions of Putin have raised concerns that Washington is losing control of its message. Biden also warned democracies of a “long fight ahead” to protect freedom in Europe.