As the Russian invasion of Ukraine reaches its third week, the Ukrainian President made a key concession today that could be instrumental in ending the conflict if it is formally agreed upon.
The conflict has claimed nearly 10,000 lives in just a three week span, according to a variety of sources from the US and Ukrainian government to the Russian government.
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most important demands throughout the conflict, which started in 2014 with the Russian invasion of Crimea, is that Ukraine guarantees to give up its NATO aspirations. Putin has went so far as to demand that Ukraine makes an amendment to its constitution cementing its status as a neutral state.
In a conference today, Zelensky seemed prepared to give Russia the concession after saying that NATO seems to have little interest in accepting Ukraine anyways.
The Epoch Times Reports–
“Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country has to accept that it will not become a member of the NATO military alliance, a critical Russian concern that was used to justify the invasion.
“Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We understand that. We have heard for years that the doors were open, but we also heard that we could not join. It’s a truth and it must be recognized,” Zelensky said during a video conference with the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force on Tuesday.
Peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations restarted Tuesday after a pause on Monday, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak
But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told news outlets that it was too early to predict the outcome, saying: “The work is difficult, and in the current situation the very fact that [the talks] are continuing is probably positive.”
Last week, Zelensky told ABC News that he realized that Ukraine wouldn’t join NATO “long ago” and came to that conclusion “after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine.” He did not elaborate.”
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