(Ottawa) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky has told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the West should be ready for Russia to impose new sanctions on its eastern border for military forces.
Posted yesterday at 4:27 p.m.
Zelensky conveyed this message to Trudeau in a telephone interview on Tuesday morning during a key meeting in Brussels between the 30 NATO countries and the Russian alliance.
The meeting aims to ease tensions between the West and the Kremlin, with Russian military massages on the eastern border of Ukraine provoking fears of an invasion.
Russia has asked NATO to guarantee that it will not expand into eastern Ukraine, a request rejected by the alliance and Ukraine itself.
“The position of Western nations in dialogue with Russia must be firm and decisive. We must be ready to immediately introduce a sanctions package against Russia to counter the Kremlin’s aggressive intentions,” the statement said.
Trudeau reiterated that the West must comply with Moscow’s demands to halt NATO expansion.
“No one but Ukraine and NATO should influence our integration into the alliance,” Zelenskyy said.
The Canadian account of the appeal was not immediately available.
Mr. Canada has requested the assistance of 200 soldiers to the NATO Military Training Mission in Ukraine. Zelenskyy asked, which ends in late March.
The two leaders also agreed on the need for joint efforts to “adequately compensate” the families of the 176 passengers killed when the Iranian military shot down Flight 752 “Ukraine International Airlines” there. Two years. Most of the dead were Canadians as well as Ukrainians, Swedes, British and Afghans.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister said that any NATO concession to Russia would not extend the alliance to the east, a strategic defeat.
“The Russian Federation has deliberately launched negotiations on so-called ‘security guarantees’ to maximize shares by making unacceptable demands,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in a statement issued by the Russian Federation. Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa.
“The situation looks even more alarming as Russia demands security guarantees, but Ukraine’s more than 100,000 strong, armed forces are holding Crimea hostage and fighting in the Donbass. Russia’s special services weaken security at the borders. Belongs to, ”Culeba said in a statement.
In 2014, Russia seized the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine after ousting its pro-Moscow leader and threw its weight behind the separatist uprising in the eastern part of the country, where more than seven years of fighting have killed more than 14 000 people.
The 2015 peace agreement mediated by France and Germany put an end to large-scale wars, but frequent clashes continued and attempts to negotiate a political solution failed.
Zelenskyy met on Tuesday with French and German officials who traveled to Kiev following talks in Moscow the previous week to discuss another four-way meeting on the dispute between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
“It is time to hold important talks on ending the conflict, and we are ready to take the necessary decisions at the new summit of the leaders of the four countries,” Zhelensky assured.
With information from the Associated Press
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