Ukraine will return to negotiations with Russia when they withdraw to pre-invasion positions

MADRID, 24 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, has defended that the Ukrainian side will sit down again to talk with Russian representatives when his Army withdraws to the positions prior to the invasion, which began three months ago.

"For all Ukrainians, victory is to recover all the territories. It is true that we must also recover the Donbas region and the Crimean peninsula, but at the expense of this, first I want to recover the pre-February 24 state, and then I I will sit at the negotiating table," Zelensky said in an interview for Japanese radio and television NHK.

Likewise, the president has pointed out that the Russian troops are really in inferiority in the Ukrainian territory, with which the Armed Forces of this country will be ready for a "counterattack" once "the necessary weapons" arrive, among which Zelensky has highlighted long-range missiles.

Zelensky himself already announced on Monday that, due to the dominant role of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow's decisions, he would only meet him at a possible future negotiating table.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian president has lamented that China is "adopting the thought that it is right to occupy the territory of other countries", in what seems to be an allusion to Chinese claims to adhere to the island of Taiwan.

"It is not desirable for China to unite with Russia. This is well understood by Japan (...) It was important for us that Japan supported Ukraine in a clear, frank, substantial and frontal way", Zelenskiy thanked, who also put in value the union in Indo-Pacific between the countries of the Quad --Japan, Australia, the United States and India--.

Finally, Zelensky reiterated his denunciation of Russia's alleged blockade of several million tons of wheat, a commodity that the Ukrainian president considers "of great importance to Asia, Europe and Africa."