Zelensky Expressed Readiness for Direct Talks with Putin

On the first anniversary of his inauguration, Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was giving himself a few more months to resolve the conflict in the Donbass. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his readiness for direct negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on ending the war in the Donbass. “Despite the fact the public may think differently about direct talks between President Zelensky and President Putin, I am sure that we should do this. Without quitting Minsk, in parallel, as a separate track,” he said at a press conference in Kiev on Wednesday, May 20, exactly one year after the inauguration. The head of the Ukrainian state emphasized that he hopes for the success of direct negotiations. “There are some things that you can understand only when you are one on one, and there are some answers that you can hear when you are one on one in order to draw one hundred percent conclusions, and follow another plan - plan B”, he noted. Coronavirus slowed down the settlement process in Donbas The Ukrainian president also admitted that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the process of resolving the conflict in the east of the country has slowed down. Therefore, according to him, he gave himself a few more months to achieve success in implementing the Minsk agreements. “We will stand up for Minsk until the end, because sanctions against the Russian Federation are connected with Minsk. And you know very well that everyone wants to lift them, and not only Russia, but many European countries which, as I understand, also suffer economically because of these sanctions,” he stressed. Zelensky also indicated that there are other options for resolving the conflict in Donbas, but he would not want to implement them. “We must speak with them, we must agree. I say again, the Minsk format is a priority, but no one repeals any other format. I am ready for any format that can bring us closer to ending the war and returning people to our territory,” Zelensky said, adding that after the pandemic he intends to seek the return of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and annexed Crimea.