Zelensky calls for sanctions against Russia if it does not accept a ceasefire in Istanbul

Tirana.- The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asked this Friday before the leaders of the European Political Community for a reaction that includes sanctions on the Russian energy and banking sectors if the delegation sent by the Kremlin to Istanbul to negotiate with Kyiv does not agree to declare a ceasefire of at least 30 days.

Zelenski again accused the Kremlin of sending a delegation of insufficient political level to the Istanbul negotiations to make decisions on its own, but he trusted that Moscow’s emissaries could at least accept the truce of at least one month that Kyiv considers necessary to begin negotiating the details of a possible peace agreement.

“Our number one priority is a complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky reiterated before the European leaders gathered in Tirana, the capital of Albania, where the European Political Community is holding its sixth summit this Friday.

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The Ukrainian president again lamented that “a real opportunity” to take steps towards the end of the war was missed due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision not to travel to Turkey to meet there personally with Zelensky, who had challenged him to a personal meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to give impetus to the negotiations.

Zelensky also reiterated from the Albanian capital that if Friday’s meeting in Istanbul does not yield concrete results, it will demonstrate “one hundred percent that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy.”