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President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was no longer pressing for NATO membership and was open to “compromise” on the status of two breakaway territories that President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent just before the invasion.
Ukraine’s move for NATO membership was a delicate issue that was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbour on Feb 24.
“I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelensky said in an interview aired Monday night on ABC News.
“The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia,” the president added.
Referring to NATO membership, Zelensky said through an interpreter that he does not want to be president of a “country which is begging something on its knees.”
Russia has said it does not want neighbouring Ukraine to join NATO, the transatlantic alliance created at the start of the Cold War to protect Europe from the Soviet Union.
In more recent years the alliance has expanded further and further east to take in former Soviet bloc countries, infuriating the Kremlin. Russia sees NATO enlargement as a threat, as it does the military posture of these new Western allies on its doorstep.
Shortly before he ordered the invasion, Putin recognised as independent two separatist pro-Russian “republics” in eastern Ukraine – Donetsk and Lugansk – that have been at war with Kyiv since 2014. He now wants Ukraine, too, to recognise them as sovereign and independent.
When ABC asked him about this Russian demand, Zelensky said he was open to dialogue. “I’m talking about security guarantees,” he said.
He said these two regions “have not been recognised by anyone but Russia, these pseudo republics. But we can discuss and find the compromise on how these territories will live on.”
“What is important to me is how the people in those territories are going to live who want to be part of Ukraine, who in Ukraine will say that they want to have them in,” Zelensky said.
“So the question is more difficult than simply acknowledging them,” the president said.
“This is another ultimatum and we are not prepared for ultimatums. What needs to be done is for President Putin to start talking, start the dialogue instead of living in the informational bubble without oxygen.”
US waging ‘economic war’ on Russia
The Kremlin on Wednesday accused the US of launching an economic war against Moscow, describing an onslaught of sanctions against the country over its military incursion into Ukraine.
The US has declared economic war on Russia and it is de facto waging this war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The Russian government is scrambling to impose measures to limit the economic fallout of the sanctions.
2,155,271 refugees
UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, recorded 2,155,271 refugees on its dedicated website so far.
Authorities and the UN expect the flow to intensify as the Russian army advances deeper into Ukraine.
The flood of refugees escaping war in Ukraine for the European Union has sparked a rare show of unity from the bloc’s 27 nations after years of disputes over the sensitive issue of migration.
The EU has agreed to add more Russian oligarchs and officials to its sanctions blacklist, tighten controls on cryptocurrency transfers and target the maritime sector over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, diplomats said Wednesday.
The 27-nation bloc also gave the go-ahead to cut three Belarusian banks from the global SWIFT payments system over Minsk’s support for the Kremlin’s attack, the French mission, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, tweeted.
US halts Russian oil import
The US has banned imports of Russian oil, firing one of its biggest economic weapons against Moscow.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday the US oil embargo on Russia would cut the main artery of Moscow’s economy, and vowed Ukraine would never be a victory for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Oil rose towards $130 a barrel on Wednesday. JP Morgan estimated around 70 per cent of Russian seaborne oil was struggling to find buyers.
Brent crude was up $1.68, or 1.3 per cent, at $129.66 a barrel.
Oil has surged since Russia, the world’s second-largest crude exporter, invaded Ukraine. Brent hit $139 on Monday, its highest since 2008.
Russia ‘prefers’ talks
Russia will achieve its goal of ensuring Ukraine’s neutral status and would prefer to do that through talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
Moscow’s aims do not include overthrowing the Kyiv government and it hopes to achieve more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, Zakharova told a briefing, adding that Russia’s military operation was going strictly in line with its plan.
Some progress has been made, Zakharova said referring to three rounds of talks with Kyiv. She also said Moscow does not intend to occupy Ukraine or overthrow its government.
‘Our sanctions will hurt you’
Russia has warned the West that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West’s most sensitive areas.
Russia’s economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the West imposed crippling sanctions on almost entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.
