Zelensky urges Biden to send strong message during State of the Union

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to his US counterpart Joe Biden to send a strong and "useful" message because of Russia's offensive on Ukraine during his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Zelenskyy, in an exclusive interview with Reuters and CNN, said as long as Russia continued its ongoing war on Ukraine there would be little space for bilateral peace talks to end hostilities.

"You have to speak first of all. Everybody has to stop fighting and to go [back] to that point from where it began five, six days ago," the Ukrainian president said from a bunker in Kyiv, according to CNN. "I think there are principal things you can do,” he said. “If you do this, and that side does this, it means they are ready for peace. If they (are not) ready, it means you're just wasting time."

Zelenskyy demurred when asked if Ukraine was wasting time by holding talks with Russia amid its continued hostilities, saying "We'll see."

“It’s necessary to at least stop bombing people, just stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table," he added.

Separately, Reuters reported that Zelensky continued to appeal to NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. But the move has been widely rebuffed within the alliance because of fears that it would result in a direct confrontation with Russia.

“This is not about dragging NATO countries into war. The truth is everyone has long since been dragged into war and definitely not by Ukraine, but by Russia - a large-scale war is going on,” said Zelenskyy.

Ukraine has long been seeking to join NATO, and Russia has demanded that the defensive pact bar the eastern European nation from membership. The Ukrainian president said that should membership be ruled out, he would request security guarantees from the West.

“Our partners, if they are not ready to take Ukraine into NATO ... because Russia does not want Ukraine to be in NATO, should work out common security guarantees for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.

“This means that we have our territorial integrity, that our borders are protected, we have special relations with all our neighbors, we are completely safe, and the guarantors that give us security, they guarantee this legally," he added.

Since Russian began its war on Ukraine last Thursday, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

At least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Around 660,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the international body said Tuesday.