President Zelensky: Ready to negotiate with another Russian president, not Mr. Putin

Ukrainian President Zelensky. Photo: Getty Images

“We are ready to negotiate with Russia, but with a different Russian president,” TASS news agency quoted Mr. Zelensky as saying in a video posted on the Telegram channel.

RT (Russia) also said that Mr. Zelensky refused to negotiate a peaceful solution as long as Vladimir Putin remained the Russian president. On his Telegram channel, the Ukrainian leader said that he "always offered Russia coexistence on equal, honest, decent and fair terms", blaming Russia for the failure of the negotiations.

According to RT, Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly rejected peace requests from Moscow, most recently rejecting President Putin's proposal on September 30 to resume negotiations.

"Only the path of strengthening Ukraine and expelling the occupiers from our entire territory will restore peace," President Zelensky said in his speech.

Mr. Zelensky also confirmed that Ukraine had applied to join NATO on the same day, September 30. While Western media described the move as “more symbolic than practical,” the Ukrainian president appeared serious, arguing that Sweden and Finland could apply for NATO membership quickly even without a Membership Action Plan and that it was therefore “fair” for Ukraine to do so.

"In fact, we have completed the path to NATO," Mr Zelensky said in another Telegram post. "In fact, we have proven our compatibility with the Alliance's standards... We trust each other, we help each other and we protect each other."

Mr Zelensky has previously acknowledged that Ukraine may have difficulty securing the consent of all 30 NATO member states, and instead pushed for the so-called Kiev Security Pact, which requires core NATO members to defend Ukraine “in case of aggression”.

Accepting Ukraine into the alliance would draw NATO into immediate confrontation with Russia, under Article 5 of the common defense treaty.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on September 30 that although the US is committed to an "open" policy on NATO membership, now is not the time to consider Ukraine's application for membership.