The hostilities have solely introduced distress and demise over the previous two years, Slovakia’s Peter Pellegrini says
The Ukraine battle has achieved nothing however tens of hundreds of deaths and should be resolved as quickly as attainable, Slovakian President-elect Peter Pellegrini has mentioned.
Pellegrini, who’s at the moment serving because the speaker of the nationwide parliament, gained the presidential election on Saturday, receiving 53% of the vote. His rival, ex-International Minister Ivan Korcok, who has been described as a pro-Western candidate, obtained round 47%. Pellegrini is an ally of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who opposes sending weapons to Ukraine.
In an interview with Ta3 broadcaster on Sunday, the president-elect harassed that “the killing [in Ukraine] must be stopped instantly after which motion must be taken.”
He added that “it’s an absolute tragedy to assist… a battle that has not introduced any leads to two years” whereas leaving tens of hundreds useless. On the identical time, Pellegrini condemned Russia’s army operation towards Kiev, calling Moscow the “aggressor.”
He additionally harassed that whereas Slovakia will stay aligned with the EU and NATO, it’s going to search to be extra unbiased on the worldwide stage.
The president-elect additionally rejected the concept his marketing campaign was primarily based on fearmongering, telling native media that, quite the opposite, he needed to reassure his fellow residents that they won’t need to go to conflict. He added that he would “slightly hearken to the Holy Father within the Vatican than French President [Emmanuel] Macron” relating to concepts for resolving the battle between Moscow and Kiev.
In March, Pope Francis urged Ukraine to start out peace talks with Russia, saying you will need to have “the braveness of the white flag” – an attraction that was vehemently rejected in Kiev. Macron has taken a extra hardline strategy. At one level, he mentioned that deploying NATO troops to Ukraine can’t be dominated out, whereas describing Moscow as an “adversary.”
Russia maintains that it’s open to talks with Kiev; nevertheless, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree banning negotiations with the present management in Moscow after 4 former Ukrainian territories voted overwhelmingly to hitch Russia within the autumn of 2022.
Final month, nevertheless, Zelensky urged {that a} return to Ukraine’s 1991 borders is now not a precondition for negotiations with Russia, insisting as a substitute that the territory it misplaced in 2022 should be restored.
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