“Showing weakness or selling out Europe’s positions won’t buy a just peace,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told European leaders in Budapest, according to his published speech.
“Peace is the reward only for the strong,” Zelensky said on X, stressing the importance of deterrence and underling the value of European countries to America as allies.
Addressing calls for Ukraine to cede land or make concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, Zelensky said this was “unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for all [of] Europe.”
“Russia started this war not because it needed more territory. Russia has more land than anyone.
“They wanted global power, starting with control over Ukraine and then over all of you, as they once did under Soviet or imperial rule,” Zelensky said.
“We must push Russia toward a just peace. A just peace will be a shared victory,” he said, adding that Putin only understands war and “only pressure can put limits on him.”
“It is up to Ukraine to decide what should and should not be on the agenda to end this war,” Zelensky said.
