WASHINGTON, January 15. /TASS/. The United States thinks that if Vladimir Zelensky sits down at the negotiating table, he must do so from the position of strength, US National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said at a news briefing.
"On Ukraine: Look, we have said, I don't know how many times I've said that, of course, we want to see the war end, but you know what we won't do? We're not going to impose a negotiation on president Zelensky or the Ukrainian people," he said, replying to a request to comment on statements by US President-elect Donald Trump about ending the Ukrainian conflict.
"We want for president Zelensky when, if and when he's ready to go to the negotiating table, that he goes into it with a position of strength," Kirby noted. "So we have literally moved mountains and led the world in helping Ukraine succeed on the battlefield, so that if a negotiated settlement comes, he's got leverage," the official added.