Zelensky: there will be a short window of opportunity to end the war
26 March 05:55
There will be a short window of opportunity from the beginning of the ceasefire until an agreement is reached to end the war with Russia, as the Kremlin is constantly violating the agreements. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Time magazine, Komersant ukrainskyi reports
“Since 2014, the Russians have been constantly violating the peace. This is how I see it. They are going to violate it all the time. That’s why the window of opportunity is very short between the moment of the ceasefire and the moment of reaching an agreement to end the war,” Zelensky said, adding that it could be “a very short period: a month, two, three, and that’s it.”
According to the Ukrainian president, after that, it will be about the morale of the military, as Ukraine has 800,000 armed people. Zelenskyy clarified that the issue is “not only about finances,” because “if we do not have an agreement to end the war, it becomes a frozen conflict.”
“And we cannot continue to live in a state of war. We need to open the borders. We need to liberalize many things. And we can do this if we sign the agreement,” he said.
Zelenskyy explained that if the period between the ceasefire and the peace agreement is short, “we may see only some violations here and there.”
“It would not be a complete collapse. But if the process drags on, then everything will fall apart many times over. And we do not know how it will end,” the president emphasized.
The interview was recorded before the negotiations between the delegations from Ukraine, the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia to agree on a ceasefire at sea and a ban on attacks on energy infrastructure, although the transcript was made public on March 25.
What preceded it
The previous round of talks between the delegations of Ukraine and the United States took place on March 11 in Jeddah. As a result, Ukraine agreed to an immediate temporary ceasefire – in exchange, Washington decided to resume aid and intelligence sharing. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that a 30-day ceasefire will work for the entire front line if Russia agrees to it.
on March 18, Trump spoke with Putin. They discussed, among other things, the 30-day truce proposed by the United States. Putin demanded that Ukraine stop mobilizing and rearming the Armed Forces during this period. After the conversation, the parties reported that Putin allegedly supported the idea of Russia and Ukraine mutually refusing to strike energy infrastructure for 30 days.
On March 19, Trump spoke with Zelenskyy. The US president shared with the Ukrainian leader the details of his conversation with Putin. Zelenskyy said he was ready to support the cessation of strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure.
