"Not territories." Zerkal names Ukraine's "red lines" in negotiations with russia

The three key factors for Ukraine's existence and preservation of statehood are the army, language, and faith, not territories. This was stated in an interview with Radio Liberty by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2014 - 2019), member of the Coordination Council of the Ukraine Facility Platform Lana Zerkal on Monday, May 19.

Zerkal stated that the russian dictator putin, in order to continue the war, is hiding behind the issue of territories, which he has made his main strategy. According to her, putin needs a war against Ukraine to preserve his power and the existence of his regime.

"As for Ukraine, I don't think we have a question that territory is our red lines. I really think that for us red lines exist in the sense of preserving statehood. Statehood cannot be preserved if the russian church and the russian language are imposed on us. And we need to preserve the army. These are our three key factors and red lines," Zerkal said.

In her opinion, that is why russia is imposing conditions on the russian language as the second state language and the church in the negotiations, in order to try to maintain control over the situation and influence in Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 16, the first direct negotiations in three years between the delegations of Ukraine and russia took place in Istanbul.

On May 16, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the russian side had set several unacceptable conditions during the negotiations.

On May 17, russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that a meeting between dictator vladimir putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is possible.