By Natalie Musumeci,Abbie
Shull
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
said he had "cooled down" about Ukraine's
bid to join NATO.
- He said his mindset changed "after we
understood that NATO is not prepared to
accept Ukraine."
- Zelensky added: "The alliance is afraid
of controversial things and confrontation
with Russia."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said
that he had "cooled down" about Ukraine's bid to
join NATO
amid Russia's war with the Eastern European
country.
"Regarding NATO, I have cooled down regarding
this question long ago after we understood that
NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,"
Zelensky
told ABC News in an exclusive interview that
aired Monday night.
Zelensky added: "The alliance is afraid of
controversial things and confrontation with
Russia. I never wanted to be a country which is
begging something on its knees. We are not going
to be that country, and I don't want to be that
president."
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Ukraine's pursuit of NATO membership has been
cited by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a
justification for his decision to invade
Ukraine.
In 2008, Ukraine
applied to begin a NATO Membership Action Plan,
and the
alliance welcomed Ukraine's bid, pledging
that the country would eventually become a
member, while declining to offer a timeline.
In addition to his NATO comments, Zelensky
said on Tuesday that he was open to
discussions about the control of Russian-backed
separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, which
could be an opening for peace talks with Russia.
"It is important to me how people who want to
be part of Ukraine will live there. I am
interested in the opinion of those who see
themselves as citizens of the Russian
Federation. However, we must discuss this
issue," Zelensky said.
Before Putin launched Russia's war on
Ukraine, he signed a decree recognizing the
separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the
Donbas, an eastern region in Ukraine, as
independent states. Putin
demanded guarantees that Ukraine would not
join NATO in the run-up to his invasion, a
demand the alliance's leaders repeatedly
rejected.
"The people who elected me are not ready to
surrender. We are not ready for ultimatums,"
Zelensky said. "But we can discuss with Russia
the future of Crimea and Donbas."
A senior US defense official who briefed
reporters Tuesday estimated that up to 4,000
Russian troops had died since Putin launched
Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The
official said Russia had lost about 5% of its
vehicles and weapons, leaving it plenty of
combat power. The CIA director also
warned Tuesday that Putin was "likely to
double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian
military with no regard for civilian
casualties."
But Russia's military is still expected to
subdue the Ukrainian resistance if hostilities
continue — at 900,000 active-duty troops and 2
million reservists, the Russian military is
eight times the size of Ukraine's, according to
a report from
The Washington Post.
Read the original article on
Business Insider
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