Zelensky Admits His Country Will Have to Pay for Western Help
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Western countries are helping Ukraine, but Kiev is yet to pay for it, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said.
"The money allocated by Europe and other nations are spent only on humanitarian aid or weapons. Sometimes we receive weapons directly, but you have to understand that everything has its price," he said, TASS reported.
"Whenever the money that we get is mentioned - well, it all came at a cost, it’s not for free."
In late February, Zelensky requested the EU to let his country join the union immediately. Ukraine’s application for EU membership under the accelerated procedure has been accepted, registered and is being considered, Head of the Office of the Ukrainian President Andrey Yermak said on March 1.
The heads of EU states and governments, who gathered for an informal summit in France’s Versailles, expressed their solidarity with Ukraine in a joint statement, but stopped short of granting the candidate status to Kiev. According to the final statement, EU will keep strengthening its ties with Ukraine, which belongs to the "European family." However, according to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the process of Ukraine’s accession to EU may take months or even years.
Zelensky also said that both Russia and the West should provide security guarantees to his country.
"Apart from the Russian Federation, the security guarantees should be provided by other leaders as well," he said in an interview to foreign media on Saturday.
The Ukrainian president said NATO offered no protection to his country.
"What we need now is not words, but security guarantees from countries and unions of countries that are capable of providing them," he said. "We don’t want to wage any more wars."
Zelensky went on to say that Russian-Ukrainian negotiations continue.
"Groups of Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are discussing some matters," he said, adding that his country informed other states about the ongoing talks.
"We have no secrets, we are absolutely frank about this agenda. We informed certain leaders about the questions that are being discussed by the Russian and the Ukrainian sides," Zelensky added.