Ukraine' first lady says Putin won't stop further attacks even after conceding territories

As the Russian offensive has completed almost 100 days, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska said that conceding territory to Moscow will not stop Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutality against Ukrainians. While speaking to ABC News, 44-year-old Zelenska said conceding the parts of the country means "conceding freedom". She affirmed even if Ukraine considers territories, Putin would not stop and rather, he would launch further aggression against Kyiv. "You just can’t concede…parts of your territory. It’s like conceding freedom," the First Lady said.

"Even if we would consider territories, the aggressor would not stop at that. He would continue pressing. He would continue launching more and more steps forward, more and more attacks against our territory," she added.

The same was echoed by her husband and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an address to the nation on May 21. Zelenskyy affirmed that he would consider the victory only when Putin would return all the regions seized by Russian forces to Ukraine. The Ukrainian President said he believes Russia would further escalate the war but noted that it has to return to the negotiating table. According to him, it is necessary to negotiate with Putin as thousands of civilians have been killed since the brutal war started in February this year. 

Russia ready to negotiate, says Upper House Speaker

Notably, Russia started the "special military operation" earlier on February 24 alleging Ukraine had been planning to join the NATO military alliance. However, Zelenskyy had said Ukraine will not become a Nato alliance. Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow's upper parliament house speaker said Russia is ready to hold negotiations with Kyiv to restore peace in the region. The major development came as Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, who was on an official visit to Mozambique, met Maputo's President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday. Speaking at the meeting, Russian News Agency- TASS, reported that the speaker said the Putin administration is open to talks with Ukraine and signing agreements that would lead to peace. She said that the Russian government is ready to solve the issue diplomatically and added a will for this is needed on both sides. However, she claimed that the Zelenskyy administration has shown no interest in resolving the issue. 

Image: @olena_zelenska/Twitter/AP