There cannot be 'denazification' in agreement with Russia: Ukraine President Zelenskyy

Amid the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the President of the war-torn nation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that for any agreement with Russia there cannot be "denazification", The Kyiv Independent reported. "When a country that is treading in the footsteps of the Nazi is accusing us of being Nazi - we cannot accept that," the president said in an interview with Suspilne, a Ukrainian state broadcaster. 

Further, Zelenskyy has reiterated his refusal to surrender, saying, "Let's say they demand to get Kharkiv, or Mariupol, or Kyiv." However, the residents of these cities will not allow them to do so, he added. "The only way they can seize the cities is to kill everyone, and take the empty city," ANI reported. 

These comments of Zelenskyy came as Russia began special military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days following Moscow’s acknowledgement of Ukraine's separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics and had announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "denazify" the country. 

Zelenskyy reactions over NATO

In addition to this, while speaking about North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership, the Ukrainian President said, “NATO should either say now that they are accepting us or openly say they are not accepting us because they are afraid of Russia, which is true," ANI reported. He went on to say that without being a member of NATO, there are NATO member nations that can supply them with security assurances.  

It is worth noting that Zelenskyy has earlier stated on Sunday that if his nation had been a member of NATO, Russia would not have attacked Ukraine. During an exclusive interview with CNN, Zelenskyy has highlighted that he would like to obtain guarantees of security for his nation and people. he added that if NATO nations are willing to let them into the alliance, then they should do it right away since people are dying every day. 

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podoliak, the President of Ukraine's advisor, stated on Monday that Russia has constantly been trying to justify its violence on the war-torn nation by claiming that Ukraine has bio laboratories and fabricating stories about Nazi battalions as well as the disastrous artillery shelling of Donetsk, which killed thousands of people. He went on to say that everything is a lie and that the world, having watched Putin administration's unjustifiable attack.

(Image: AP)