September 21, 2025 | 04:12 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected a proposal to resolve the conflict with Russia using the agreement that concluded the Korean War of 1950-1953, which resulted in the division of the Korean Peninsula into two parts.
"We have a different story than in Korea. The war ended there without a final agreement," Zelensky stated as reported by Russia Today and Antara.
He added, "Therefore, as the President of France (Emmanuel Macron) says, security guarantees should not wait for the end of the war. And here I agree with him."
Macron has been increasingly lobbying to deploy "peacekeeping" forces to Ukraine, should a ceasefire occur, as part of a willing "coalition" of Western European nations.
Moscow, however, has strongly rejected any scenario that involves the deployment of NATO forces to Ukraine.
According to Zelensky, a ceasefire is a sufficient step to provide security guarantees. He further emphasized that no one is considering the "Korean or Finnish scenarios, or any other scenarios." He concluded that Ukraine will get what it will get.
North Korea and South Korea technically remain at war, as the 1953 conflict ended with a ceasefire, not a formal peace agreement. A Demilitarized Zone, stretching along the 38th parallel, divides the Korean Peninsula into two roughly equal halves.
Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a short-term ceasefire would only give Ukrainian forces time to regroup and rearm. Putin has argued that a long-term peaceful agreement should be based on "respect for the legitimate interests of all people, all nations who live in this region."
Regarding negotiations, Zelensky stated his readiness to meet with both Trump and Putin in a trilateral or bilateral format without preconditions.
"I am ready to meet with President Trump and Putin trilaterally or bilaterally ... I am ready to meet without any kind of conditions," Zelensky said in an interview with the British television station Sky News.
However, he ruled out the possibility of a meeting in Moscow, though he is open to considering proposals for a meeting in any other country, stating that "there are a lot of propositions on the table." Zelensky also mentioned that Ukraine is ready to discuss a ceasefire.
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