Zelensky only open to ‘genuine peace negotiations’ with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his country is open to “genuine peace negotiations” with Russia, but that such negotiations in the past have led to “insane Russian responses.”

In his address, Zelensky spoke about the “need to immediately stop Russian aggression, restore our territorial integrity, and force Russia into genuine peace negotiations.”

He blamed Moscow for a failure to reach a diplomatic solution to the war, saying that Ukraine has “repeatedly” proposed talks and “we always received insane Russian responses with new terrorist attacks, shelling or blackmail.”

Zelensky elaborated that genuine negotiations would include affirmations of Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” and assurances that Russia would not invade its smaller neighbor in the future.

“Restoration of territorial integrity, respect for the UN Charter, compensation for all damages caused by the war, punishment of every war criminal and guarantees that this will not happen again,” the president said. “These are completely understandable conditions.”

Zelensky said more than 50 Ukrainian settlements were hit by Russian missiles or rockets on Monday, including in the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

“The main thing for us is to inform the world about the ongoing Russian aggression, about the destabilizing influence that Russia exerts,” Zelensky said.

Those in other countries who are concerned about “the climate agenda” should be especially opposed to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, according to the president.

“When the world is focused on combating war, energy and food crises, the destruction of customary international relations, the climate agenda is clearly suffering,” he said.

“And the destruction of the climate cannot somehow be put on hold.”

Zelensky said climate activists should be “serious” about the need to put an end to Russian assaults on Ukraine.