Ukrainian leader has been warned to tread carefully in his dealings with the Russian president
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should avoid direct discussions with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Kiev’s former prime minister has advised, amid flaring tensions between the two states.
Speaking as part of an appearance at the Kiev Security Forum, which was broadcast by the YouTube channel Open Ukraine on Wednesday, Arseny Yatsenyuk said that “the best way to deter Russia is to stay strong and be united, both domestically and internationally.”
“I am not criticizing Zelensky, but I would advise him not to have any separate negotiations with Putin,” he weighed in, adding that the Ukrainian president “can talk to Putin only when accompanied by our allies – the US and the EU.”
Otherwise, Yatsenyuk warned that if Zelensky goes head-to-head with Putin, the Russian leader “will eat him for breakfast.”
The Ukrainian politician also slammed the fact the West was holding security guarantees with Russia as “nonsense,” and instead called for the need to impose tough sanctions on the country and its leader.
Yatsenyuk also insisted that Kiev must receive lethal defensive weapons “to deter and stop” Moscow.
The broadside from Ukraine’s former prime minister comes amid heightened hostilities between the two Eastern European states. On Wednesday, Russian diplomats and representatives from NATO met in Brussels to discuss security concerns on the European continent, in which Kiev was one of the main focus points.