Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes Europe and the United States will be involved in any talks about ending his country’s war with Russia, he told reporters yesterday.
At a joint press conference with President Maia Sandu of neighbouring Moldova, Zelensky said Ukraine also needed to be involved in any discussions on ending the war for such negotiations to have any meaningful impact.
“As for what the set-up of the talks will be: Ukraine, I really hope Ukraine will be there, America, Europe and the Russians,” Zelensky said, later clarifying that no framework was yet established.
“Yes, I would really want that Europe would take part, because we will be members of the European Union.” Zelensky said he believed US President Donald Trump could end the war, but he could do so only if he involved Ukraine in the talks.
“Otherwise it will not work. Because Russia does not want to end the war, while Ukraine wants to end it,” he said.
Trump promised during his campaign that he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office, but his aides have since said a deal could take months. The US president has expressed willingness to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war.
On Friday, Putin said he would like to meet Trump to talk about Ukraine. He cited a 2022 decree from Zelensky barring talks with Putin as a barrier to negotiations.
At the press conference, Zelensky said he introduced this prohibition to stop Putin from forming other channels of communication with interlocutors in Ukraine. Zelensky said Russia was actively trying to do this before he signed the order.
Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to offer coal to Moldova, which is in the midst of an energy crisis after flows of Russian gas through Ukraine stopped at the beginning of this year. Most of Moldova is controlled by authorities in Chisinau, but a sizeable minority of the population lives in Transdniestria, a region that broke away at the end of Soviet rule and was engaged in a brief conflict with the newly independent Moldovan state. The pro-Russian region, which has Moldova’s only power station, is facing the brunt of an energy crisis after losing gas supply, warning that its supplies will soon be exhausted.
“Russia’s latest move has been to orchestrate an energy crisis,” Sandu told reporters in Kyiv, adding that electricity prices had shot up in territories controlled by her government, but that things were even worse in the breakaway area.
“Those living in the Transdniestrian region of Moldova, held hostage by an unconstitutional regime backed by Russia for the past three decades, are now left in cold and darkness.”
Transdniestria is subject to daily power cuts of about five hours and shortages of heating in winter conditions.
Sandu said this was part of a calculated Russian strategy to sow chaos in Moldova and to facilitate the coming to power of a pro-Russian government, an apparent nod to parliamentary elections coming up this year.
Zelensky said Ukraine could supply enough coal to Moldova or to Transdniestria to solve their energy problems and to drive electricity prices down by 30%.
“The absence of a crisis in Moldova is also (in the interests of) our Ukrainian security,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine could send a team of specialists to facilitate the use of Ukrainian coal at Transdniestria’s power plant.
Sandu said it was up to Transdniestrian authorities in the region’s capital of Tiraspol to accept the aid.
Transdniestria enjoys no international recognition and its self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said this week that the thermal plant on its territory needed anthracite coal to operate and that the variety offered by Ukraine was unsuitable.
The region’s official news agency, in a post on Telegram, noted Zelensky’s renewed offer on Saturday, but added: “It is most likely that this is the same coal which is unsuitable for the power station.”
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