Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday rejected the idea of discussing a ceasefire with Russia or making the slightest “concession”, after Moscow urged the West to negotiate under penalty of “destruction of the Ukrainian population.
Vladimir Putin said he was “ready to resume contact” with Donald Trump after the Republican's victory in the American presidential election, while the billionaire assured during the campaign that he could end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours” .
“We can't just say '(a ceasefire now) and then we'll see.' It's not viable. And the worst part is that it's irresponsible,” Zelensky said. during a press conference on the sidelines of a summit of the European Political Community in Budapest, referring to “very dangerous rhetoric”.
The Ukrainian president assured earlier Thursday that making “concessions to Putin” was “unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for all of Europe”, partly repeating a speech made a little earlier.
Calls for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are becoming more insistent after more than two and a half years of a devastating war, including among some of kyiv's allies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the European leader best disposed to Mr. Putin, repeated his call on Thursday for a truce on the battlefield, to “give the warring parties the space and time necessary to communicate and begin to negotiate peace.
– North Korean “losses” –
Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Hungary for this meeting with European leaders at a difficult time for Ukraine, which has been retreating on the front for months in the face of a better armed and more numerous adversary.
He assured for the first time that the North Korean soldiers accused by kyiv and the West of being deployed in Russia to support Moscow's forces there “took part in the hostilities” and suffered “losses”.
According to him, 11,000 North Korean soldiers are deployed in the Russian region of Kursk, of which Ukrainian forces have occupied a small part since a surprise offensive launched in early August.
North Korea “is now waging war in Europe”, he lamented, adding: “North Korean soldiers are trying to kill our people on European soil”.
The election of Donald Trump to the American presidency has cast a chill over kyiv, which fears a disengagement from its main supplier of arms and financing in the months to come.
“I spoke to President Trump (…), it was a productive conversation but, of course, we cannot say what specific actions he will take,” noted the Ukrainian head of state.
He thus called on Americans and Europeans to be “strong” and to “value” their relations. “What is clear to me is that he (Trump) really wants to end (the war),” he said.
– “Destruction of the population” –
On the ground, a series of Russian strikes left four dead and 33 injured in the city of Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine. Glide bombs hit a hospital and residential buildings, according to local authorities.
The strikes came hours after Russian Security Council chief Sergei Shoigu pressed kyiv's Western allies to begin negotiations with Moscow if they want to end attacks on Ukrainians.
“The situation in the theater of hostilities is not in favor of the kyiv regime, the West has a choice: continue its financing (of Ukraine) and the destruction of the Ukrainian population or admit the existing realities and begin to negotiate,” he said during a meeting.
With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, the ball is in the American court, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, said on Thursday.
“We will see if there are any proposals” from the new American administration, he declared.
– Series of attacks –
With the apparent desire to break the morale of the population, Russia bombs Ukraine almost daily.
On Thursday, a strike on the village of Mykolaivka caused the death of two people and injured five people, according to the governor of the eastern Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin.
The capital kyiv was targeted by drone raids for almost the entire first week of November, the military administration said.
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, debris from such devices fell on six neighborhoods of kyiv, causing two minor injuries, according to this source.
Russia is demanding in particular that Ukraine cede five regions of the country to it and that it renounce its ambition to join NATO. Unacceptable conditions for Mr. Zelensky, who insists on the pure and simple withdrawal of Russian troops from all of the occupied territories.
