Ukraine war: Zelensky ties peace talks with Russia to this condition

Berlin newspaper Ukraine war: Zelensky ties peace talks with Russia to this condition Article from AFP/BLZ • 16 hours Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made his readiness for peace negotiations or ceasefire talks with Russia subject to a clear condition. Accordingly, he is “not ready” for talks with Vladimir Putin as long as Russian troops do not withdraw from his country. The US knows “that I am not ready to talk to the terrorists because their word is nothing,” Zelensky told the US broadcaster NBC on Sunday. “You have to leave our territory, only then can the world turn on diplomacy.” Just this weekend, word leaked that U.S. and EU officials had begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about possible peace negotiations with Russia. NBC reported this, citing two US government sources familiar with the talks. According to the report, the "sensitive" discussions that took place last month during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group covered "very broad outlines of what Ukraine might have to give up to reach an agreement with Russia." Regarding the state of the war in Ukraine, Zelensky said his country was in a “difficult situation.” It is “no secret that we have no air defense on the front line.” That's why Russia controls the airspace. “If they control all the airspace, we can’t move forward quickly unless we have air defense.” The more than a thousand-kilometer-long front line between the two warring sides has barely moved for almost a year, although Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June to recapture Russian-held territory. Zelensky regularly meets with Western leaders to obtain better air defenses. As it became known on Sunday, Ukraine is planning a complete reform of the military service within the next five years in the midst of the war against Russia. According to the concept published on Sunday, which represents “a strategic vision for the development of military personnel policy,” the Ukrainian armed forces should move to contract military service in the future. When recruiting and later pursuing a soldier's career, their previous training should be taken into account. The aim is also to achieve professional equality between the sexes within the armed forces. According to the ideas of the Ukrainian Defense Minister Rusten Umjerow, cooperation between Ukrainian universities and similar institutions in the EU and NATO countries should also be strengthened.