Ceasefire to be monitored by Ukraine and USA, participation of Turkey and Saudi Arabia discussed – Zelenskyy
Monitoring of compliance with the ceasefire regime will be ensured by Ukraine and the United States, but the participation of third countries, in particular Turkey and Saudi Arabia, was also discussed, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"The essence of the agreement on monitoring is that the monitoring is carried out by the American side and not only. We understand that de facto we have an agreement with the American side. And the provision is formulated in such a way that we are not against, everyone is not against, everyone is not against involving third parties," Zelenskyy said during his conversation with journalists on Tuesday."
“And what third countries are these? The American side is raising the question of whether everyone is not against third countries. They discussed it at the working level, the teams discussed what it could be, if it is the sea, it could be Turkey, no one has talked yet, it could be Turkey. It could be someone from the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia in energy, maybe," the president added.
At the same time, he noted that for now this remains at the “maybe” discussion level, and therefore Ukraine and the United States will be monitoring compliance with the ceasefire.
"Today, someone has to monitor this. Therefore, in my opinion, today there are the Americans and there are Ukrainians. And this is not a small amount. And we know how to monitor this - the sky, energy and the sea. We will monitor all this very quickly - excuse me for using such a word - and give all the answers to the American side where there was a violation," Zelenskyy said.
The President also noted the high level of monitoring capabilities on the part of the United States, while emphasizing that they will not be able to immediately independently ensure full monitoring of compliance with the ceasefire regime in the near future, but this is possible with joint efforts, and noted the possibility of attracting specialists from unnamed European countries.
"The American side believes that our agreements come into force after the American side announces them ... They will not be able to provide you with full monitoring right away. In my opinion, today their equipment, our equipment, our specialists and their specialists, also European countries, I do not want to say which ones, but because of this there is also a point of involving third countries, that is, intelligence, satellites of European and American countries, is enough to immediately conduct monitoring," Zelenskyy said.
At the same time, according to the Ukrainian president, "the Americans are at a high technical level to see a lot of things at sea and a lot of things in the sky." "Because when a missile flies ... when ballistics are being prepared - not that it flies, but ballistics are being prepared - in principle, American satellites, the Americans see this and know, so a signal is sent to the citizens of Ukraine, so there is an opportunity to go down to a bomb shelter, save lives. That is, I believe that this monitoring is technically at a high level, yes, it has become at a high level because of this war and during this war, this is a fact, but technically the American presence is at a high level," Zelenskyy said.