Zelenskyy Outlines First Steps Towards Peace in His Speech at EU Council
In a speech at a meeting of the European Council on 6 March, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was ready to take the necessary steps for peace and outlined what they should be.
His speech is quoted on the president's website.
According to Zelenskyy, first of all, everyone needs to make sure that Russia, as the only source of this war, recognises the need to end it.
He is confident that this can be proved by two types of ceasefire that are easy to establish and monitor: no attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure, i.e. a truce on the use of missiles, bombs and long-range drones, and a truce on the water, i.e. the cessation of military operations in the Black Sea.
As the next step, Zelenskyy called for ensuring basic trust in the circumstances in which the negotiations are taking place. ‘Ukrainians, all Europeans, Americans, every human heart in the world that is against the war - we all need to feel that the Russians are not deceiving us. The release of prisoners can be a means of establishing basic trust,’ he said.
The Ukrainian President stressed that any issues related to the security of Ukraine and Europe should be resolved only with their participation.
The Head of State also informed that the negotiating teams of Ukraine and the United States had resumed their work and he hoped for a meaningful meeting next week.
‘Ukraine has been striving for peace since the very first second of the war, and we have always said that the only reason why the war continues is Russia. Ukraine is not only ready to take the necessary steps for peace, but we also offer what these steps should be. And I ask you to support us in this - to support Ukraine and those European leaders who are helping to pave the way for peace,’ the President of Ukraine said.
As The Gaze previously reported, Zelenskyy recently wrote on social media platform X that the first steps towards a lasting peace with Russia could be the release of prisoners, an immediate ceasefire in the sky and at sea.