Amid a flurry of diplomatic meetings in Moscow and Abu Dhabi, in an interview on TV channel France 2 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on his European partners – as well as United States President Donald Trump – to put more pressure on Russia to end the four-year war.
The conflict is Europe's deadliest since the Second World War, with hundreds of thousands of people killed, millions forced to flee their homes and much of eastern and southern Ukraine left decimated.
Underscoring the human toll, Zelensky told France 2 journalist Léa Salamé on Wednesday that 55,000 of his country's troops had been killed, a rare assessment of battlefield losses by either side.
"And there are a great number Ukraine lists as missing," he said, through translated comments.
While denying that he was trying to scare anyone, the Ukrainian leader issued a blunt warning to European countries.
"Life in Europe is cool, it's nice... That's why I say we are all fighting to defend this way of life," he said. "But today, it is very clear that if Ukraine does not stop [Vladimir] Putin, he will invade Europe."
Zelensky is calling on Europeans to review their priorities, which he believes are too focused on "their internal affairs".
"I think the pressure on Putin is not enough... My opinion is that we need to engage in dialogue, but with conditions," he said, asserting that the Russian president's "interest" is "to humiliate Europe".
Putin 'only scared of Trump'
He accused Moscow of taking advantage of the cold weather to try to tip the balance of the war by increasing strikes against energy infrastructure since the beginning of winter. This has left many people, including residents of the capital Kyiv, without power in temperatures as low as minus 20C in recent days.
"Russia wants to inflict more suffering on Ukrainians so that they accept what our American friends call a 'compromise', But in fact, it is an ultimatum."
Zelensky said the US president's role in ongoing peace talks would be crucial, and that "Putin is only scared of Trump".
He suggested that Trump could use economic sanctions against Russia or transfer weapons to Ukraine to "maintain this pressure on Putin", adding that Kyiv would not compromise on sovereignty.
US backs security guarantees for Ukraine at summit of Kyiv's allies in Paris
Zelensky's comments came as a second day of trilateral talks gets under way on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
These US-mediated talks are the latest chapter in the so far unsuccessful diplomatic effort to halt the war, which started on 24 February, 2022 with Russia's full-scale invasion.
The main sticking point in the negotiations is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops out of swathes of the Donbas region, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, as a precondition of any deal.
It also wants international recognition that land seized in the invasion belongs to Russia.
Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine. It claims the Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as its own, and holds pockets of territory in at least three other Ukrainian regions in the east.
Kyiv still controls around one-fifth of the Donetsk region.
International intervention force
But Zelensky has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow, and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.
"We Ukrainians are well aware of the price that every metre and every kilometre of this land costs our army," he told France 2.
"To conquer eastern Ukraine, it would cost them [the Russian army] 800,000 more [soldiers'] lives. It will take them at least two years, with very slow progress. In my opinion, they will not last that long."
Macron demands 'robust security guarantees' before any Ukraine territorial talks
Instead he raised the suggestion of a "frozen front line" and the creation of a special economic zone, with international oversight.
"We must be in control of our part. They must control theirs. But, between us, we need an international intervention force, an international presence," he added.
French diplomatic visit
European leaders have balked at their exclusion from peace talks led by Trump’s administration, forced instead to shore up Ukraine’s negotiating position from the sidelines.
France and the United Kingdom have been leading efforts to put together a peacekeeping force that could be deployed to Ukraine after any deal.
On this subject, French President Emmanuel Macron stated in early January that "several thousand" French soldiers could be deployed.
Macron also reiterated this week the importance for Europeans "to restore their own channels of discussion".
He said in December that Europeans would have to re-engage in direct talks with Putin if the latest US-led efforts to broker a Ukraine peace deal were to founder.
In this vein, Macron’s most senior diplomat, Emmanuel Bonne, travelled to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian officials.
"These discussions exist at a technical level, in full transparency and in consultation with President Volodymyr Zelensky and with the main European colleagues," the president's office said on Tuesday.
(with newswires)
