Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, warned CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that if talks with Russia break down, the world might be on the verge of World War III.
“I’m ready for negotiations with him [Russian president Vladimir Putin]. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war,” Zelensky said over the weekend. “I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.”
Russia invaded Ukraine under the guise of a “special military operation” about a month ago. Representatives from both sides have been meeting for peace discussions for the last few weeks, but no agreement has been reached. In addition to the 6.5 million people who have been displaced inside Ukraine, Zelensky said his nation is “losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground” as the conflict continues.
Zelensky posited that if Ukraine “were a NATO member, a war wouldn’t have started.” In 1997, the NATO-Ukraine Commission was established to collaborate on a number of fronts, including security, which is part of the reason why Ukraine has received military equipment from a number of countries in the organization. “I’d like to receive security guarantees for my country, for my people,” he said. “If NATO members are ready to see us in the alliance, then do it immediately. Because people are dying on a daily basis.”
Joe Biden, the president of the United States, has been attempting to thread the proverbial needle by extending assistance to Ukraine without overstepping his bounds. Putin has warned that interfering, such as implementing a no-fly zone above Kyiv, which Zelensky has sought of NATO, would be interpreted as participation in the war, turning the US-Russian confrontation into something far worse.