What will help quickly end the hot phase of the war: Zelenskyy named the condition
NATO membership for the non-occupied parts of the country could lead to a ceasefire.
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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that a ceasefire agreement could be achieved if the non-occupied territory of Ukraine could be placed "under the NATO umbrella."
The Ukrainian leader made this statement in an interview with Sky News' chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay.
He made this remark while commenting on one of the plans by newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump for ending the war, which allegedly included the possibility of territorial concessions in areas occupied by Russia.
In this context, Zelenskyy said that NATO membership for the non-occupied territories of Ukraine could bring an end to the "hot phase" of the war. However, any NATO invitation must state that the Alliance recognizes Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.
"You cannot offer NATO membership to only part of the country. Why? Because in doing so, you acknowledge that only this part of Ukraine is Ukraine, while the other part is Russia. That’s why I said: legally, we cannot recognize the occupied territories as part of Russia. And we cannot make a mistake here," the President explained.
Zelenskyy added that for hostilities in Ukraine to cease, NATO would need to make a quick decision.
"If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to place the part of Ukraine that we control under the NATO umbrella. That’s step one. It needs to be done quickly. Then, other parts of Ukraine can be returned diplomatically," he emphasized.
At the same time, Zelenskyy noted that no such NATO accession proposals had been made yet.
"Ukraine has never considered such a proposal because no one has officially offered it to us. We will not, and cannot, legally recognize our territories under Russian occupation as Russian. This contradicts Ukraine's Constitution," he concluded.
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