‘I don’t bite’: Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeals to Vladimir Putin for face-to-face meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a passionate plea to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on March 3, 2022. Zelenskyy urged Putin to sit down with him for negotiations in person, hours after the second round of talks between the two nations concluded in Belarus. Those talks ended with only a small victory, with Russia agreeing to safe corridors and ceasefires for the passage of refugees, and to deliver aid to those in need.
The agreement, while not as comprehensive as Zelenskyy would have hoped, is a big step up from the first round of talks which ended in a stalemate. So far, Putin has been unwilling to seriously discuss terms with anyone. Even before he began his assault, he met French leader Emmanuel Macron, and fielded calls from dozens of other world leaders, but did not heed their calls for de-escalation. In fact, the same day Putin phoned Macron to say "worst is yet to come" for Ukraine, another strong hint the Russian leader may be considering nuclear war.
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Shortly after talks concluded on March 3, Putin made an address on national TV claiming that his "special military operation" was going exactly to plan, a shocking act of hypocrisy. It was the first address Putin made since the start of the war. In response, Zelenskyy pleaded with the Russian strongman to see sense.
'What are you afraid of?'
Zelenskyy's frequent addresses to both Ukraine and the world have captured the imagination of both world leaders and citizens. On most occasions, he used his air time to appeal for more aid or sanctions on Russia. However, on March 3, Zelenskyy addressed Putin directly, saying, "I don't bite. I'm a normal bloke. Sit down with me and talk." He added, "What are you afraid of? We aren't threatening anyone, we're not terrorists, we aren't seizing banks and seizing foreign land."
"Get off our land. You don't want to leave now? Then sit down with me at the negotiation table. I'm available. Sit. Just not 30 metres away like with Macron or Scholz etc. I am your neighbour. You don't need to keep me 30 metres away," Zelenskyy said. Later, at a press conference, the Ukrainian President was asked if the country could offer any "guarantees", to which he replied, "Guarantees for what? We aren't attacking Russia and we have no intention of doing so. Guarantee what? We aren't in NATO. We don't have nuclear weapons. What am I supposed to say, what am I supposed to give, and to whom?"
For the first time, he also displayed some anger, snapping at the reporter, "what am I supposed to give? Jesus, what do you want from us?!" In the same conference, he begged for the EU to either close the skies over Ukraine or send more fighter jets noting, "If we are no more then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next." In contrast, Putin appeared to be detached entirely from reality, claiming that his troops are not targeting civilians and that Ukrainian "neo-Nazis" are holding citizens hostage.
The contrasting comments shadowed the small victory Ukraine achieved earlier in the day when Russia agreed to corridors for humanitarian aid. It's unclear where those corridors will be established, or for how long they will be allowed. Ukrainian official Mykhailo Podolyak noted, "Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved." A third round of talks is scheduled "in the near future". In the meantime, Russian shelling continues to bombard Ukraine, which has quickly become one of the worst humanitarian crises of the century.
