Ukraine intends to move on to discussing Zelensky’s meeting with Putin after humanitarian issues
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that the Ukrainian side plans to move on to the topic of the meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin only after humanitarian issues are resolved. This important clarification was made at a meeting with journalists, to which Ukrainska Pravda and a number of other media outlets were not invited — the information was published by the Interfax-Ukraine agency, citing the minister's words. According to him, the key aspect is the completion of discussions on humanitarian issues, which, according to him, are in an active stage — in the process of dialogue and diplomatic consultations. Only after progress is achieved in this area, the Ukrainian side intends to move on to discussing the immediate topics of the meeting of the leaders of the two states. “After the discussions focused on humanitarian issues, we plan to actively move on to the topic of the upcoming meeting of Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Vladimir Putin for a substantive dialogue,” the Minister of Defense emphasized. Umerov emphasized that Ukraine consistently adheres to the course of peace and stability, is trying to find diplomatic ways to resolve the conflict. He noted that our state has supported the US initiative for a complete ceasefire from the very beginning, which is confirmed by the verbosity of the rounds of negotiations and diplomatic efforts. At the same time, according to the Ukrainian head of the defense ministry, any dialogue with Russia is possible only on the condition of respect for Ukrainian sovereignty and without ultimatums. The Minister also promised that in the near future the Ukrainian authorities will provide additional clarifications on the results and progress of the negotiations, as well as on the format of future meetings. This will allow the public to be more familiar with diplomatic developments and determine the further path to resolving the conflict. Therefore, the question of organizing a meeting between Zelensky and Putin remains open and depends on the success of the humanitarian negotiations, which are of paramount importance for any further steps in the diplomatic process. Ukraine is firmly committed to peace and supports diplomacy as the only way to overcome the crisis, government sources emphasize.