Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sounded an ominous warning over the weekend, saying another breakdown in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin could spell the start of World War III.
From Newsmax:
“We have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin, but if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.”
Zelenskyy said that he has been ready to negotiate with Putin for “two years,” arguing that talking to the Russian leader was the only way to “end this war.”
Ending the war has become an increasingly urgent matter for Zelenskyy, who acknowledged that the country has lost many people to Russia’s continued invasion:
“I can’t tell you about the result of these negotiations,” Zelenskyy concluded to Zakaria through a translator. ” In any case we are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground. Russian forces have come to exterminate us, and to kill us.”
Zelenskyy pushed back against people who have argued that dialogue with Putin is “shallow” and won’t “resolve anything,” saying that such talks are “very valuable” because if there is “just 1% chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance. We need to do that.”
The leader also praised the courage and fight of Ukraine’s military and citizens who have stood up to the Russian invasion, saying they “demonstrated the dignity” of the country’s people:
“And we have demonstrated the dignity of our people and our army that we are able to deal a powerful blow. We are able to strike back, but unfortunately our dignity is not going to preserve the lives.”
Zelenskyy’s comments come as Ukrainians leadership rejected Russian calls to surrender the city of Mariupol, which has been surrounded and bombarded by Russian forces, in exchange for residents having safe passage out of the city.
“There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said of the Russian demand. “I wrote: `Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.’”
