KYIV
\nWestern countries are helping Ukraine, but Kiev is yet to pay for it, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said.
\n\u201cThe money allocated by Europe and other nations are spent only on humanitarian aid or weapons. Sometimes we receive weapons directly, but you have to understand that everything has its price,\u201d he said. \u201cWhenever the money that we get is mentioned – well, it all came at a cost, it\u2019s not for free.\u201d
\nIn late February, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky requested the EU to let his country join the union immediately. Ukraine\u2019s application for EU membership under the accelerated procedure has been accepted, registered and is being considered, Head of the Office of the Ukrainian President Andrey Yermak said on March 1.
\nThe heads of EU states and governments, who gathered for an informal summit in France\u2019s Versailles, expressed their solidarity with Ukraine in a joint statement, but stopped short of granting the candidate status to Kiev. According to the final statement, EU will keep strengthening its ties with Ukraine, which belongs to the \u201cEuropean family.\u201d However, according to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the process of Ukraine\u2019s accession to EU may take months or even years.
\nUkrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that both Russia and the West should provide security guarantees to his country.
\n\u201cApart from the Russian Federation, the security guarantees should be provided by other leaders as well,\u201d he said in an interview to foreign media on Saturday.
\nThe Ukrainian president said NATO offered no protection to his country.
\n\u201cWhat we need now is not words, but security guarantees <\u2026> from countries and unions of countries that are capable of providing them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to wage any more wars.\u201d
\nZelensky went on to say that Russian-Ukrainian negotiations continue.
\n\u201cGroups of Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are discussing some matters,\u201d he said, adding that his country informed other states about the ongoing talks.
\n\u201cWe have no secrets, we are absolutely frank about this agenda. We informed certain leaders about the questions that are being discussed by the Russian and the Ukrainian sides,\u201d Zelensky added.
\nUkrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that all previously agreed humanitarian corridors were functioning on Saturday, and 12,729 people used them to flee violence-hit areas.
\n\u201cAll previously agreed corridors were functional. We managed to evacuate 12,729 people. Humanitarian cargo for Mariupol will be delivered tomorrow,\u201d he said in a video address, posted by the presidential office in its Telegram channel.
\nMeanwhile, Ukrainian deputy prime minister for issues of reintegration on uncontrolled territories, Irina Vereshchuk, said nine out of 14 humanitarian corridors were operating in the reported period.
\n\u201cYesterday we managed to evacuate over 7,000 people, but today their number is slightly less than 13,000,\u201d she said. \u201cOf course, this is very, very reassuring,\u201d she added.
\nThe deputy premier went on to say that the possibility of opening humanitarian corridors from the Lugansk and Kiev regions on Sunday was being considered.
\nColonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia\u2019s National Defense Management Center, said on Saturday Russia suggested ten humanitarian corridors for March 12 from Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol, whereas Ukraine added one more, towards Zhitomir. \u201cAt the same time, not a single humanitarian corridor to the Russian Federation has again been confirmed by Kiev, which once again proves the current government\u2019s indifference to their own people,\u201d the general said.
\nOn February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure, therefore there are no threats to the civilian population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Western countries are helping Ukraine, but Kiev is yet to pay for it, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said. \u201cThe money allocated by Europe and other nations are spent only on humanitarian aid or weapons. Sometimes we receive weapons directly, but you have to understand that everything has its price,\u201d he said. \u201cWhenever the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[456,4927,4928],"class_list":{"0":"post-249378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-ukraine","9":"tag-vladimir-zelensky","10":"tag-western-help"},"yoast_head":"\n