Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Western countries to provide nuclear weapons to Ukraine to protect itself and Europe from the Russian aggressor, because NATO membership seems very distant today.
Zelensky said in an interview with Piers Morgan: “If this process (of joining NATO) drags on for years or decades, then the completely logical question arises - who will protect us from all this evil all the time?“
“Give us back the nuclear weapons. Give us missile systems“, Zelensky urged, referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Then Kiev gave up its nuclear arsenal, left over from the collapse of the USSR, in exchange for security guarantees from Russia. With its war against Ukraine, however, Moscow has grossly violated international agreements that it itself has signed.
Zelensky said that Ukraine wants to be on the front line of defending the West from Russian aggression, but it needs military assistance to do so. In this way, Kiev can fight without involving NATO members in physical defense. But Ukraine has repeatedly emphasized that it needs weapons.
The Ukrainian president also said in the interview that the country cannot now return all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation. Zelensky said that the available volumes of assistance from partners do not allow for the complete expulsion of Russian occupation forces from Ukrainian territory. According to him, it is impossible for Ukraine to lose millions of people "for the sake of a result that may not happen". "We will still return our land, because we are right. And we have not violated any aspect of international and moral law,“ he said.
Zelensky said in an interview with British television journalist Piers Morgan that he would agree to direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the nearly three-year war between the two countries. Asked how he would feel if he sat down opposite Putin at the negotiating table, Zelensky replied: “If this is the only move that can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose more people, we will definitely agree to this move”. The Ukrainian leader added that he would like other “participants” to be present.
After the full-scale invasion, Zelensky signed a decree banning any negotiations with the Russian military and political leadership. Kiev later argued that the goal was to stop separatist sentiment in the country after the Russian army attacked it.
Zelensky also said that Ukraine's casualties in the nearly three-year war with Russia were 45,100, and the number of wounded was 390,000. According to the Ukrainian president, Russian casualties were about 350,000, and the wounded were from 600,000 to 700,000. The Ukrainian president also said that there are many servicemen in the ranks of Russian forces who are listed as missing in action.