President Vladimir Zelensky is a legitimate and lawfully elected leader of Ukraine, emphasized Kurt Volker, an honorary member of the Center for European Policy Analysis and former special representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine.
"Ukraine is a democracy that faced a brutal attack 11 years ago and an even harsher invasion three years ago. The only dictator we think and talk about is Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for 25 years, imprisoning, poisoning, and killing his political opponents, and initiated this war against Ukraine. We hear about negotiations, and we hear that the Russian delegation wants to discuss the root causes," he stated during the special YES meeting in Kyiv titled "Three Years - Time to Win," organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
Volker pointed out that the root causes of the war are "the false historical narrative of Vladimir Putin claiming that Ukraine does not exist and that Russia, as an imperial state, has the right to govern other countries and deprive other nations of their own subjectivity. This imperial and genocidal mania is the reason for this war."
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania (2020-2024), Gabrielius Landsbergis, responding to a clarifying question about European deterrent forces that could be sent to Ukraine, stated that Europe's mandate "must be about fighting."
"We are in the process of rewriting what Europe is. Europe is a force for good that can have such military strength that will be taken seriously. This is what Ukraine needs. Do we have troops? Yes, we do. Can we arm them? Yes, we can. The only question left to answer is whether we will ask for permission from Putin. And this is not a joke. There are leaders in Europe who say: fine, we will send troops, only if Putin allows us. And I can tell you, this is a mentality, and we need to break this mentality," he stressed.
"Our mandate must be about fighting. We need to be very clear: not one inch of Ukrainian territory. This needs to be said now. We are here to fight with Ukraine, for Ukraine," Landsbergis urged.