Zelensky: NATO membership is key to stopping the hot phase of the war

He added Green In an interview with the British Sky News channel: “No one offered us to join NATO Because of one part or another Ukraine. “The truth is that this is a solution to stop the hot phase of the war because we can simply approve NATO membership in the government-controlled part of Ukraine,” Reuters reported.

He stressed that “if we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we have to put the territories of Ukraine under NATO’s control.”

He pointed out: “This is what we need to do quickly, and after that Ukraine can diplomatically restore the other part of its territory.”

He ended his speech by saying: “If we are talking about a ceasefire, we need guarantees that the Russian president will.” Vladimir Putin — He won’t come back.

The comments came amid escalating tensions in the nearly three-year-old war.

This week, Russia threatened to attack government buildings Kiev It launched a massive airstrike against Ukraine’s energy sector, which it described as a response to Ukraine’s launch of missiles originating in the United States and Britain into Russian territory.

Talks of a possible ceasefire or peace deal have escalated since Donald Trump’s victory in… US presidential election Earlier this month.

The Republican criticized US aid to Kiev and said it was able to stop the conflict within hours, without specifying how it was achieved.

Russia controls about 18 percent of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

And on Russia Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporozhye regions, although it does not fully control them.

Kiev has so far ruled out giving up territory in exchange for peace, while Putin demands that the Ukrainian army withdraw from more territory and refuses Ukraine to join the EU. NATO.

Putin has previously called on Kiev to abandon its ambitions to join NATO if it wants to reach a peace deal.

As the conflict on the battlefield has escalated, Zelensky has held a series of phone calls in recent days with Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the French president. Emmanuel Macron And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart on Friday to inform him of the “United States’ objectives” to provide “continued support to Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

The administration of the outgoing democratic president intensified Joe Biden It has supported Kiev since Trump won the election, transferred more weapons and authorized Ukraine to launch long-range missiles into Russian territory.

The move sparked an angry reaction in Moscow, as Putin announced on Thursday that Moscow could use its new missile to strike the Ukrainian capital.NutcrackerHypersonic, hours after Russian bombing hit the Ukrainian power grid, knocking out power for a million people.

On Friday, Zelensky appointed a new commander of the ground forces, Mihail Drabati, in an attempt to strengthen the army’s leadership.

Drabati previously led forces in the northeastern sector of Kharkiv and faced another surprise Russian attack earlier this year.

According to Defense Minister Rustam Umarov, “These personnel decisions are aimed at strengthening our army and improving its combat readiness.”