Zelenskyy open to talks with Russia -- on Ukraine's terms

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ANDREW MELDRUM and YURAS KARMANAU

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president has suggested he’s open to peace talks with Russia, softening his earlier refusal to negotiate with Moscow while President Vladimir Putin is in power — while sticking to Kyiv’s demands.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s appeal to the international community late Monday to “force Russia into real peace talks” reflected a change in rhetoric for a man who signed a decree in late September stating “the impossibility of holding talks” with Putin. But since his preconditions appear to be non-starters for Moscow, it’s hard to see how Zelenskyy’s latest comments would advance any talks.

Zelenskyy reiterated that his conditions for dialogue were the return of all of Ukraine’s occupied lands, compensation for damage caused by the war and the prosecution of war crimes.

Western weapons and aid have been key to Ukraine’s ability to fight off Russia’s invasion, which some initially expected would tear through the country with relative ease. But U.S. midterm elections Tuesday will define the amount and the shape of Washington’s future political and financial support for Ukraine.



FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 28, 2022. Ukraine’s president has hinted last Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, at the possibility of peace talks with Russia, a shift from his earlier refusal to negotiate with President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-putin-kyiv-government-and-politics-47e31b2e2c16b92955342b673256d8d7?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_05

[Lovie777]

1. Hang tough .....

[LudwigPastorius]

2. "...the return of all of Ukraine's occupied lands, compensation for damage...

caused by the war and the prosecution of war crimes."

Quite reasonable.

If the butcher Putin doesn't like it, he can piss up a rope.

[ancianita]

3. Exactly the way it should be.

[Richard D]

4. Way, way

more than fair, especially given the thousands of dead adults and children, those tortured to death, the destruction and pillaging of museums, families broken uip, POW's kidnapped to Russia, etc. etc. etc.

[Backseat Driver]

6. Hah - talk of peace is cheap - the cost of Putin's abject failure of this

"special operation" has been incalcuable to the world. When have Russians and Putin's oligarchs ever embraced fair compensation or respect for the world's families and/or global neighbors, even the talents and energy of their own citizens...They are unworthy of a designation as a modern "superpower." They are incapable of resolving and/or accepting responsibility for their treachery, and Russia should live in poverty and economic isolation. I have NO PITY OR FORGIVENESS for the atrocities they've committed, and whatever those talks should lead to, it likely never will be enough.

First, Russia needs to remove Putin and curtail his unbridled power, then talk of peace, compensation, war criminals' atrocities, territorial boundaries and resources, theft and return of Ukraine's cultural museum treasures...neither will they ever end the pain that so much death has left behind. That which lingers in memory about this fiasco will never bring Russians into global trustworthiness or honesty in negotiation.

Immortal words to the other side: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" but "you must just try sometime"...and you might find...

at the very least, friends who support and encourage your efforts to get back on your path in helping your own to better lives and able to come to the aid of others'; never underestimate human energy and JUSTICE!

[Backseat Driver]

8. Hah - talk of peace is cheap - the cost of Putin's abject failure of this

"special operation" has been incalcuable to the world. When have Russians and Putin's oligarchs ever embraced fair compensation or respect for the world's families and/or global neighbors, even the talents and energy of their own citizens...They are unworthy of a designation as a modern "superpower." They are incapable of resolving and/or accepting responsibility for their treachery, and Russia should live in poverty and economic isolation. I have NO PITY OR FORGIVENESS for the atrocities they've committed, and whatever those talks should lead to, it likely never will be enough.

First, Russia needs to remove Putin and curtail his unbridled power, then talk of peace, compensation, war criminals' atrocities, territorial boundaries and resources, theft and return of Ukraine's cultural museum treasures...neither will they ever end the pain that so much death has left behind. That which lingers in memory about this fiasco will never bring Russians into global trustworthiness or honesty in negotiation.

Immortal words to the other side: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" but "you must just try sometime"...and you might find...

at the very least, friends who support and encourage your efforts to get back on your path in helping your own to better lives and able to come to the aid of others'; never underestimate human energy and JUSTICE!

[niyad]

5. Slava Ukraini!

[republianmushroom]

7. I like it

[FredGarvin]

9. A wise move

He is using Putin as a lever. A lever that Putin can't disregard.
87,000 Russians dead for nothing.
Russia needs a wake up call.

[GregariousGroundhog]

10. As far as war damages go

Ukraine should demand the $300 billion in seized foreign reserves the Russians had seized as a down payment, and that Russia also pay something like three or five percent of their GDP for a number of years (which would be 45 to 75 billion dollars annually).

[LiberalLovinLug]

11. "his preconditions appear to be non-starters for Moscow"

Shouldn't be.

Its not like Zelensky is asking for anything more than what conditions were like before the Crimea invasion.

Minus of course all the dead and wounded. Adding a war crimes investigation which Russia brought upon itself. Its because of those human losses that simply asking for things to be put back as close to how they were before all the hostilities is NOT asking too much.

But Putin has moved the goalposts so much that he's able to convince people that these kinds of preconditions are unfair. Too many diplomats will go along with that.