President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will not withdraw its troops from its own territories, which was demanded by russian leader vladimir putin following the talks in Turkey.
The President announced this during a briefing after a call with US President Donald Trump.
Thus, Zelenskyy was asked, in particular, whether he sees that US President Donald Trump can agree to the demands of the aggressor state russia to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk Regions, which russia does not fully control.
"The question here is not about President Trump. Why? With all due respect, because this is our land, our state, this is our army and this is our independence. The question is what Ukraine can afford to do, what it cannot do. No one will withdraw our troops from our territories," Zelenskyy said.
The President emphasized that his constitutional duty, the duty of the Ukrainian military, is to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
"Yes, now there are temporarily occupied territories due to the aggression of such a large country. But there will be no ultimatums, and no one will surrender their land, their territories, their people, their homes. I don't know what principles are in the memorandum (which Putin announced - ed.), if... Let's be frank, this is what we talked about with the leaders, I talked about with President Trump and his team. If Russia sets conditions for withdrawing our troops from our land, it means they don't want a ceasefire and they don't want the war to end. Because they clearly understand that Ukraine will not do this," the President emphasized.
As we will recall, journalists found out that russia demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk Regions, which russia does not fully control, but which it has written into its constitution. In addition, the russians threatened to go further and occupy Sumy and Kharkiv Regions.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on May 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump had two telephone conversations - before and after Trump's conversation with russian leader vladimir putin.
In particular, Ukraine and partners are considering the possibility of holding a meeting of Ukraine, russia, the US and European countries in Turkey, the Vatican or Switzerland.
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