“Honest negotiation” required
Zelenskyj warns Putin of military losses
03/19/2022, 02:28 am
Russia’s president has so far refused to hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart. Zelenskyj calls on Putin again to talk to him. He warns of immense losses for the Kremlin’s troops if they continue their attack in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Russia to engage in serious and honest talks on a peace settlement. “Meaningful negotiations on peace and security for Ukraine, honest negotiations and without delays are the only chance for Russia to lessen the damage caused by its own mistakes,” Zelenskyy said in a video address late at night.
If Ukraine’s territorial integrity is not restored, Russia will suffer “serious losses”. “It is time to establish territorial unity and justice for Ukraine,” said the Ukrainian head of state. “Otherwise Russia will suffer such losses that it will take several generations to get back on its feet.”
According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the Russian military is making tactical mistakes in Ukraine. There have been a “series of missteps,” Austin said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN during his trip to Bulgaria. The Russian soldiers have not progressed as quickly in Ukraine as they had imagined.
“It’s time to talk”
“They had imagined that they would move fast and take the capital very quickly, but they weren’t able to do that,” Austin said. He also assumed that the Russians would not use tactical information well. The cooperation between the air and ground forces is also not good. “So there are a number of things that we would have expected that we just didn’t see.”
The Pentagon keeps saying that the Russian military is making little progress in Ukraine. North and northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Russian soldiers would not make any more “significant advances” on the city, a senior US defense official said. There is no movement east of Kyiv either. The Pentagon assumes that Ukrainian airspace is still contested and that the Russians have not gained the upper hand.
Zelenskyi reiterated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a peace solution. “It’s time to talk,” he said.
Talks in Belarus continue
The Kremlin has so far rejected this, wanting to create content for such a meeting that corresponds to its own ideas beforehand in the negotiations with Kyiv. The warring parties have been negotiating a peace solution since February 28, most recently via video link almost daily. While Moscow is talking about visible compromises, especially on the question of Ukraine’s neutral status, Kyiv sees no major progress. In addition to a neutral status for Ukraine, Russia is striving to demilitarize the country, among other things. In addition to an immediate ceasefire, Ukraine is demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops and subsequent concrete security guarantees.
In a phone call lasting almost an hour on Friday morning, Chancellor Olaf Scholz again asked Putin to end the war in Ukraine. The SPD politician insisted that a ceasefire be reached as soon as possible, the humanitarian situation improved and progress made in the search for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, explained government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. The conversation was devoted to efforts to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.