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In an interview with the Financial Times, the president called for an “expansion of the Normandy group”, saying that “it should be recharged by the United States and join Britain and Canada.”
Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia currently belong to the so-called Normandy Quartet.
Furthermore, according to Zelensky, the Minsk agreements on solving the situation in eastern Ukraine “must be reviewed” to end the war in Donbass. “
“Now I am involved in a process that was prepared before my arrival. The Minsk process should be more flexible in this situation. It should serve the purposes of today, not yesterday, the president said. – There are two options: we can change the Minsk format, adjust it. Or we can use some other format. Speed is important. The speed of this process is significant because we are losing people every day ”.
In an interview, Zelensky also said he welcomed the prospects of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American leader Joe Biden.
“I am sure that they will not be able to leave the meeting empty-handed. If the summit takes place, there will be some result, at least a small one,” he said.
At the same time, the Ukrainian leader said he wanted to meet with Putin. However, according to V. Zelensky, he did not agree with the Russian president’s proposal to hold talks with representatives of individual districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
“I’m not going to talk to terrorists, it just isn’t possible,” he said.
Putin said last Thursday that the Ukrainian leader was expected “at any moment” in Moscow, with tensions over the concentration of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border and in Crimea and new fighting in Donbas.
“Regarding the development of bilateral relations, please. We will receive the President of Ukraine in Moscow at any time that is convenient for him,” Putin told reporters during a meeting with Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko in Moscow.
Putin’s invitation to Zelensky came in response to a proposal made by the Ukrainian leader last week to meet with the two leaders in eastern Ukraine, where fears of intensifying fighting between Kiev’s pro-Kiev army and pro-Russian separatists could escalate to a global war.
“If President Zelensky wants to start improving relations, then of course we welcome him,” Putin told reporters at the beginning of talks with Lukashenko.
However, the Russian leader stressed that if Zelensky hopes to solve the problems arising from the conflict in eastern Ukraine, he must first meet with the leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
“It just came to our knowledge then [derėtų] to discuss these issues with representatives of third countries, in this case with Russia, “said the host of the Kremlin.
Ukraine has been fighting pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting the separatists with troops and weapons. Moscow denies the allegations.
The protracted conflict in Ukraine has already cost more than 13 thousand people. it lives. The recent resumption of regular clashes threatens the ceasefire agreement reached last July.
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