Posted on 03/28/2022 7:43:56 PM PDT by delta7
Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia but such a pact would have to be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in remarks aired on Sunday.
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The Ukrainian president also accused the West of cowardice, making an exasperated plea for fighter jets and tanks to help defend his country from Russia's invading troops.
Speaking after US President Joe Biden said in a lacerating speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power – words the White House immediately sought to downplay – Zelenskyy lashed out at the West's "ping-pong about who and how should hand over jets" and other weapons while Russian missile attacks kill and trap civilians.
Ukraine says that to defeat Russia, the West must provide fighter jets and not just missiles and other military equipment. A proposal to transfer Polish planes to Ukraine via the United States was scrapped amid NATO concerns about being drawn into direct fighting.
In his pointed remarks, Zelenskyy accused Western governments of being "afraid to prevent this tragedy. Afraid to simply make a decision."
Another top Ukrainian official, meanwhile, said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea, while Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Monday that Russia's war on Ukraine has so far cost the country $564.9 billion in terms of damage to infrastructure, lost economic growth and other factors.
In an online post, she said the fighting had damaged or destroyed 8,000 km (4,970 miles) of roads and 10 million square meters of housing.
Zelenskyy said Russia's invasion had caused the destruction of Russian-speaking cities in Ukraine, with damage worse than the Russian wars in Chechnya.
"Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point," Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine refused to discuss certain other Russian demands, such as the demilitarization of the country.
Speaking more than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy said no peace deal would be possible without a ceasefire and troop withdrawals.
He ruled out trying to recapture all Russian-held territory by force, saying it would lead to a third world war, and said he wanted to reach a "compromise" over the eastern Donbas region, held by Russian-backed forces since 2014.
Zelenskyy focused on the fate of the eastern port city of Mariupol, under siege for weeks. Once a city of 400,000 people, it has undergone prolonged Russian bombardment.
I've talked to the defenders of Mariupol today. I'm in constant contact with them. Their determination, heroism and firmness are astonishing," Zelenskyy said in a video address, referring to the besieged southern city that has suffered some of the war's greatest deprivations and horrors. "If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had 1% of their courage."
"All entries and exits from the city of Mariupol are blocked," Zelenskyy added. "The port is mined. A humanitarian catastrophe inside the city is unequivocal, because it is impossible to go there with food, medicine and water," he said.
"I don't even know who the Russian army has ever treated like this," he said, adding that, compared to Russian wars in Chechnya, the volume of destruction "cannot be compared."
Russia has denied targeting civilians in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for a failure to open humanitarian corridors.
Zelenskyy pushed back against allegations from Moscow that Ukraine had curbed the rights of Russian speakers, saying it was Russia's invasion that wiped Russian-speaking cities "off the face of the earth."
He was installed, just like biden was.
You’ve been on here for weeks telling how Ukraine is winning.
***Got some kind of a link where I said that? My approach is to start from what both sides are saying. Last I heard, Ukraine has been invaded by Russia and the Russian army is still there. Or do you have some different kind of information?
I’ve read a dozen times today that Ukraine has won, I thought you would be happy.
***Do you see me on those threads claiming it as factual? I think it’s good news but that doesn’t mean I trust it nor claim it as factual until both sides agree. You obviously haven’t been tracking what I say. You are way too invested in this Manichean approach to dialog.
There’s 5000 dead civilians in Mariupol tonight. All nicely denazified by Russian rockets and bombs. Sleep well tonight. Job done.
“He was not like Azov or Right Sector wearing SS emblems, carrying posters of Stepan Bandera and had no ancestor serving in the SS Galicia Division.”
Nor did he belong to the US MILITARY, as Azov is part of the Ukranian Military.
You should try to think for yourself rather than wait for others around you to do your thinking for you.
Should Russia liberate the rest of Europe from “nazis”?
” This may be a parlor game to you sitting in your comfortable arm chair tonight but real people die when such dehumanizing rhetoric is used.”
I hope it’s Azov. That would make me feel warm and happy in my comfy arm chair.
“How many airliners did azov shoot down?”
Considering that the weapon was a Cold War relic used by Ukraine, but not Russia, I would have to answer: ONE (so far).
It’s not our responsibility to get knee deep in every war in the world.
***We signed the Budapest Agreement that “assures” their borders and sovereignty. So, this isn’t “every war”, this is a war we already had signed up for but are reluctant to fulfill our side of the bargain. We should give the Ukes back their nukes, since we supposedly want them to stand alone.
Depraved animals. Our allies...
OKay, the Ukes are being pushed into a corner in their existential war. Here is what those 8 conditions will look like when they build their own nukes and set one off in a Russian city:
1. Forswear joining NATO
***That’s up to the Ukes and NATO, thank you very much.
2. Enscribe “neutrality” into Constitution
***The Ukes really want this anyways. They wanted neutrality from NATO and from Russia. They simply want to be left alone, but they’ve been invaded twice after relinquishing nuclear weapons. They never woulda been invaded if they had kept those nukes.
3. Recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea
***Every last citizen of Russia to walk back home, leaving behind every valuable and every piece of military equipment. Russia will acknowledge Uke sovereignty AGAIN like they did in the Budapest Agreement and will pay sanctions for this invasion. The UN shall set up a buffer zone in Russian Territory about 10 miles wide, to prevent future invasions. They will withdraw 1 mile per decade until 100 years from now there will be no UN personnel and no buffer zone.
4. Recognize Independence of the Donbass Republics
***Russia to recognize that they had almost zero interest in these areas until oil was discovered there. Majority areas of Donbass Republics will be granted self-sovereignty after a plebiscite 10 years from now but they will not ever get one petrodollar from one drop of oil.
5. Remove neo-NAZI elements from Government and Armed Forces
***They’ll get right on it. It was mostly just an excuse to invade.
6. Remove American-sponsored biological weapons labs
***Never heard of them. Certainly before there was this invasion. Ukes will allow UN inspectors to investigate over a one month period and then the UN guys go home.
7. De-militarize, stop acting like the forward base for invasion of Russia
***Russia to leave every last bit of military equipment, down to the last bullet, on Uke soil and military personnel will walk home with the clothes on their backs & 3 days’ supply of food, escorted by UN bluehelmet weenies.
8. (unstated) Resignation of Zelenskyy
***Putin will resign for the good of Humanity.
Jog my memory. Wasn’t there another group in Europe back in the 1940s who really hated the Roma people?
Is he giving the West’s money back?
***Are we giving their nukes back? If they’d have kept those nukes, they never woulda been invaded.
Hey, maybe you should check your 'magic' copy of the Budapest Memorandum! You seem to 'find' all sorts of unique clauses in your copy (like a requirement that the US provide military assistance to defend Ukraine) that aren't actually there, when anyone else reads it. \sarc
Has anyone ever really “loved” the Roma people in Europe?
The correct answer was zero
Russian separatists shot down one airline.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28357880.amp
Killed nearly 300 people.
“We should give the Ukes back their nukes”
Yes technically maybe, but realistically it might be a bad idea.
The market currently says this a big nothing burger, like Will snd Chris
You and biden have a lot in common. Now you’re trying to walk back what you’ve been saying, all the while deigning you said it.
Feel free to post where I said what you say I said. Go ahead. Heck, I’ll even open our own thread for it if ya want.
You use /sarc, as if you don’t really intend to say what you really did say.
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