President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky compared the efforts towards a ceasefire in Donbas without a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin with running on a treadmill.
"This week we are really starting preparations for the Normandy Four summit," the president said in a video address to the nation.
"This summit is already a victory for us... this is a great opportunity to start this dialogue, because it is this dialogue that could lead to the return of our people... I would like to have a ceasefire and to provide an opportunity to end this war. It is important to resolve the issue of our territories ... and be one country," he said.
Read alsoZelensky: Vote in Donbas to be held under Ukraine laws after end of Russian occupation
At the same time, Zelensky called on Ukrainians not to pay attention to slogans voiced by individual politicians who "play people's emotions."
"I'd like you to not pay attention to representatives of certain political forces, who have already died as politicians and who hadn't even been born as human beings. I'd like you to not react to their slogans, to some fake 'treason' narratives... Nobody remembers them, and this is their only opportunity to ride the tide of this hype. But this is not the topic that should be used to ride the hype because every day we lose our people ... You have trusted in me, so there will be no 'treason'," the president noted.
"Trust no one – no one wants to go there with war and lose hundreds of thousands of people. We can't afford this. Therefore, there's only diplomacy. And if there's no such dialogue, as they say: 'What kind of dialogue can Zelensky have with Putin?' ... You know, we can do without this dialogue, but it’s like running on a treadmill. That is, you're running, you losing calories, but you're still there. We don't want to remain at a standstill," Zelensky said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Normandy Four summit is scheduled for December 9.
