'The minister said that while Ukraine does not want conflict with Russia, the country has experienced Moscow's unpredictability under President Vladimir Putin.
"We in Ukraine have learned one thing about Putin's actions. This lesson is that anything can be expected from the Russian leadership," he said, pointing to Russia's annexation in 2014.''Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to meet him in eastern Ukraine for talks on calming tensions between the two countries.
"I go there every month. Mr. Putin. I am ready to go even further and invite you to meet anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbas, where the war is going on," Zelenskiy said in a video released on the presidential website on April 20, amid a Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea.
There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.
The United States and NATO say the Russian military buildup is the largest since 2014, when Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backed separatists holding parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
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Earlier on April 20, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a new round of economic sanctions on Moscow to make it clear that there will be “dire consequences” if it continues its buildup of Russian troops.
“Moscow should hear from every corner, that it's not two sides, Ukraine and Russia, who bear responsibility for the escalation,” Kuleba said in a conference call with reporters. "History proves that only painful economic sanctions can make a difference.”
The cost of preventing Russia's further escalation will be lower than the cost of stopping it and mitigating its consequences, he said, adding that it is critically important to signal this now to influence calculations in Moscow.
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Kuleba also said he wanted a diplomatic solution but that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined a request for talks.
The minister said that while Ukraine does not want conflict with Russia, the country has experienced Moscow's unpredictability under President Vladimir Putin.
"We in Ukraine have learned one thing about Putin's actions. This lesson is that anything can be expected from the Russian leadership," he said, pointing to Russia's annexation in 2014.
Kuleba also said Russia's military buildup is driven by Putin's desire to resolve the conflict in the Donbas in his country's favor by ultimatum and to bolster domestic support in the face of declining ratings.
He also wants to show that Russia can disregard Western condemnations over its "malign" activities, he said.'
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Zelenskiy Invites Putin To Meet In The Donbas For Peace Talks, April 20, 2021
Context'..Today’s war in eastern Ukraine, along with Russia’s wider hybrid war against the entire Western world, are the latest episodes in the unraveling of the Soviet empire..''..if Russia suddenly turns demonstrably pro-European, reversing, for example, its current policy on Ukraine.'(Russia) - 'The regime is now officially positioning itself as a dictatorship.' - Yulia Galyamina'Clean Hydrogen Alliance of companies, industry experts, national governments' - '..decarbonise industrial processes and economic sectors.''..Europe thinks it can separate business and politics, but to Putin it's all the same: business.'Estimate: October, 2025 – Safire Plasma (fusion) Reactors commercially available – Abundance