[CNN / Fareed Zakaria GPS]
“I told [the West] that we are running out of time. You have to admit Ukraine into NATO right now … and that will be a very clear and very correct message to the Russian leadership and to the Russian people that we are a unitary state and that they cannot exert any kind of military pressure on us.”
“But everyone in the West told me that we do not have any chance of NATO or E.U. membership. I asked them not to drive the Ukrainian people into a corner because our people are brave and the West should also be brave in telling directly to the Ukrainian people that, well, you are not going to be a NATO-E.U. member. They do not have a consolidated position and I requested that personally.”
“I requested them personally to say directly that we are going to accept you into NATO in a year or two or five. Just say it directly and clearly or just say no, and the response was very clear, you are not going to be a NATO or E.U. member, but publicly the doors will remain open. I asked them about preemptive sanctions, I talked about Nord Stream 2, we were discussing all of it, and simultaneously we were strengthening our army because with neighbors like this, like we have, this is the only way out.”
Read more: Interview With Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky – Transcript (audio, video)
