Zelenskyy to Witkoff: Red lines for Ukraine - to recognise any temporarily occupied territories as Russian
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to remarks by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. President’s special envoy, who stated that a "peace agreement" with Russia would involve a settlement on "five territories."
He made the statement during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Odesa, according to Censor.NET.
The President emphasized that Ukraine is a sovereign state, and only the Ukrainian people have the right to speak about its territories.
"All territories belong to the unitary state of Ukraine. Once again, only the people of Ukraine can speak about the territories of our state. And as you know, these are red lines for us – recognizing any territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
These representatives (referring to U.S. Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff – ed.note) are discussing matters that are beyond their mandate," the Head of State stressed.
In addition, Zelenskyy thanked Rutte for his consistent support since the beginning of the full-scale war and stressed the importance of supplying Patriot systems.
According to him, Ukraine is ready to contribute financially to their purchase.
The President also noted that Russia ignores American initiatives on ceasefire, continuing to shell Ukrainian cities. He called on the allies to put more decisive pressure on the Kremlin and support defence cooperation formats, including the Patriot coalition and the NATO mission in Wiesbaden.
According to Witkoff, the key to a general peace agreement is in the ‘five territories’. He did not provide further details, but Russia insists that its seizure of parts of Ukraine since 2014, including Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions, must be recognised in any agreement.
