Zelensky called the return of Ukraine to the borders of 1991 a condition of negotiations

Ukraine will be ready for negotiations after reaching the borders of the country in 1991, including the territories of the south-east of the country before their inclusion in Russia and Crimea. This was announced on July 1 by President Volodymyr Zelensky, reports “RBC Ukraine”.

Today, the Ukrainian president is meeting in Kyiv with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The politician had previously addressed parliament and announced a new aid package of 55 million euros.

Zelensky, according to the newspaper, stressed that the borders on February 24, 2022 are “not our borders”, there was a line of contact.

“Therefore, we emphasize once again: Ukraine will be ready for this or that format of diplomacy when we are really on our borders,” he said.

Since the beginning of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the parties have held talks several times. The first three face-to-face meetings took place in Belarus: on February 28, 2022, representatives of Russia and Ukraine met in the Gomel region, and then on March 3 and 6, negotiations continued in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The fourth round of the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue took place on March 29 in Istanbul. But later the process was frozen. On May 17, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Ukraine had actually withdrawn from the negotiations.

On June 29, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that there were no prerequisites for a diplomatic settlement of the situation in Ukraine. Prior to that, he said that negotiations were “absolutely excluded” by Kiev and the countries of the West. Earlier, he and other government officials said that opponents deliberately put forward unrealistic conditions in order to exclude the possibility of negotiations.