Here are five key takeaways from Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay’s interview with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Will NATO protect parts of Ukraine?
Asked about NATO, President Zelensky said “no one has offered” Ukraine to join, but if the invitation were extended to areas controlled by his military, he feared a “hot phase” of the war. He suggested that it could end.
This would be conditional on the NATO invitation itself recognizing Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, including Crimea and areas of eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia.
He appeared to accept that occupied Ukraine would be excluded from such an agreement for the time being and that any possible return would be negotiated diplomatically in the future.
work with trump
Zelenskiy said he had not spoken to Donald Trump since September, but added that he hoped the two would exchange views.
“We had a conversation. It was very warm, good, constructive… It was a very good meeting, and it was an important first step. Now we are preparing some meetings. “You have to,” he said.
“People are more important than land”
President Zelenskiy said he finds it “difficult” to talk about the morale of soldiers amid reports of declining morale.
He spoke of the primary importance of the Ukrainian people to the territory.
“This war is not for the independence of the land, but for the independence of the people,” he said. “The land is very important and part of our identity. But most important are the people.”
draft age
President Zelensky dismissed questions about the draft age in Ukraine, following suggestions that the age should be lowered to 18 to alleviate recent labor shortages.
“I think we have a lot of soldiers, but frankly the limit is we have to save as many lives as possible,” he said.
“And if there is an idea in our European or American offices that we need to do something different in terms of draft age, I just ask our partners to do their job, and we are going to take care of their business.”
Ready to have a dialogue with President Putin
In a major development, Zelenskiy signaled that he is open to dialogue with Vladimir Putin.
But he said, “I’m not going to give him a chance to give him an ultimatum…because he’s a murderer, he’s a terrorist, and he’s lonely.”
