Zelensky Says Russia’s Demands Now Are More ‘Realistic’

By Staff, Agencies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that peace talks with Russia were sounding more realistic but more time was needed.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have raised hopes the war could end sooner than expected, possibly by May.

"The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine," Zelensky said in a video address ahead of the next round of talks.

In a hint of a possible compromise, Zelensky said earlier that Ukraine was prepared to accept security guarantees from the West that stop short of its long-term goal of joining NATO.

In the same respect, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled out such possibility, stressing on Wednesday that “there is no way Ukraine is going to join NATO any time soon.”

Moscow sees any future Ukraine membership of the Western alliance as a threat and has demanded guarantees it will never join.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to predict progress in the talks. "The work is difficult, and in the current situation the very fact that [the talks] are continuing is probably positive."

On 24 February, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that "demilitarization and de-nazification" are among the key goals of the special operation. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it has no plans to occupy Ukraine, insisting the armed forces only target the country's military infrastructure.

The United States and its allies, including Japan, responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia, while many foreign companies decided to leave the country's market.