Kyiv [Ukraine], November 5 (ANI): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied that ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has reached a “stalemate”, while also denying reports that the Western allies are pressurising Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.
“Time has passed, people are tired…But this is not a stalemate,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference on Saturday in Kyiv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Notably, the sprawling front line between the two warring sides has barely moved in almost a year, with one senior Ukrainian official warning this week that the conflict was “deadlocked”, according to Al Jazeera.
Zelenskyy also rejected reports that Western countries were putting pressure on Kyiv to enter negotiations with Russia, amid reports that US and EU officials had discussed what such talks would entail.
“No one among our partners is pressuring us to sit down with Russia, talk to it, and give it something,” he added.
“Such pressure existed before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and at the beginning of the fighting, but “today, none of the EU leaders or the US are putting pressure on me to sit down with Russia, negotiate and give Russia anything. There will be no such thing,” Al Jazeera quoted the Ukrainian President as saying.
Zelenskyy further expressed “irritation” at media reports about the pressure to negotiate with Russia, saying he had “no idea” where those claims came from.
He further emphasised that he would always act in accordance with the will of the Ukrainian people.
With the war now in its 20th month and Ukraine struggling to gain ground in its counteroffensive, Zelenskyy has routinely been meeting with the Western leaders in a bid to stave off fatigue with the conflict, Al Jazeera reported.
Zelenskyy also said that the war between Israel and Hamas has drawn away the global attention away from Ukraine, and this was “Russia’s goal”.
“Of course, it’s clear that the war in the Middle East, this conflict, is taking away the focus,” Zelenskyy said.
“We have already been in very difficult situations when there was almost no focus on Ukraine…I am absolutely sure we will overcome this challenge,” Al Jazeera quoted Zelenskyy as saying.
Meanwhile, the countries backing Ukraine including the US have maintained they are ready to support Kyiv with military and financial support for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia.
Earlier, Kremlin also denied that the conflict has reached a ‘stalemate’, while also refuting Ukrainian claims of achieving ‘victory’, Russian News Agency TASS reported.
“The Kiev regime should have realized long ago that it is absurd to even talk about any prospects of the Kyiv regime’s victory on the battlefield. And the sooner the Kiev regime itself realizes this, the sooner some prospects will open up,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“No, it has not reached a stalemate. Russia is consistently carrying out the special military operations. All the set goals should be fulfilled,” Peskov added.(ANI)
