President Zelenskyy rules out talks with Putin

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defence Council, which states the impossibility of negotiating with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as well as the need to strengthen Ukraine’s defence capability.

Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (dating back to 30 September 2022) “On Ukraine’s actions in response to the Russian Federation’s attempt to annex the territories of our state, to guarantee the security of the Euro-Atlantic space and Ukraine, and to restore its territorial integrity.”

On Friday, 30 September, taking into account the results of the meeting of the Staff of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the NSDC decided to:

  1. State the impossibility of holding negotiations with the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
  2. Approve the text of the joint appeal by the president, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and the prime minister of Ukraine to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO – ed.).
  3. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is to prepare proposals for a multi-level security guarantee system based on Ukraine’s multilateral and bilateral agreements, which aim to bring the defence potential of Ukraine to a level that will ensure a guaranteed response to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, strengthening military support for Ukraine to build up its defence capabilities, promoting the development of the military industry and significantly increasing the scale and volume of individual and collective training of Ukrainian servicemen.
  4. In the context of escalation by the Russian Federation, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine should ensure that Ukraine’s defence capability is strengthened by increasing the supply of military and technical assistance to Ukraine.
  5. A recommendation has been made to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that it expedite the adoption of relevant draft laws on appropriate sanctions and other responses to escalation by the Russian Federation in order to increase state resilience.

On 30 September, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine was ready to negotiate with Russia – not with Vladimir Putin , but with a different president. Prior to that, the Ukrainian leader repeatedly warned the Kremlin that further negotiations would become impossible if Russia annexed new territories of Ukraine.