According to reports, the German Chancellor tried to persuade the Ukrainian leader not to join NATO.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Olaf Scholz (German chancellor) had suggested that Volodymyr Zilensky be granted peace in exchange for his support just days prior to the Russian military offensive.
Scholz made the US outlet’s description of Scholz as “one last push for a settlement between Moscow and Kiev”It was less than one week before the Russian troops entered Ukraine, on February 24, 2017.
The chancellor told Zelensky in Munich on February 19 “that Ukraine should renounce its NATO aspirations and declare neutrality as part of a wider European security deal between the West and Russia,”The paper says. Daily also asserts that “the pact would be signed by Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden, who would jointly guarantee Ukraine’s security.”
Zelensky, however, refused to accept the concession in order to avoid confrontation and said that “[Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin couldn’t be trusted to uphold such an agreement and that most Ukrainians wanted to join NATO,”The WSJ report does not reveal its source for this information.
“His answer left German officials worried that the chances of peace were fading,”The report highlights.
Scholz and Zelensky actually met that day, on the sidelines to the Munich Security Conference. Each delivered an address.
Russia attacked its neighbor in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. French and German protocols were designed to normalize those areas within Ukraine’s state.
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No way NATO will deploy troops to Ukraine – Germany
Russia now demands that Ukraine declare itself neutral and vows to abide by the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev maintains that Russia’s offensive was not provoked and denies claims it planned to take over rebel territories by force.
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