As Russia continued to bombard Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky made what the Guardian sees as a "significant concession": He said Ukraine will not become a member of NATO. Zelensky told officials from the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force that the country must accept that it won't be joining the alliance. "It is clear that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, we understand this," Zelensky said. "For years we heard about the apparently open door, but have already also heard that we will not enter there, and these are truths and must be acknowledged.”
Permanently ruling out Ukrainian membership of NATO was one of Russia's main demands before it launched the invasion last month. Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that negotiations with the Russians were "very difficult and sticky" but there is still room for compromise and talks are expected to resume Wednesday, the AP reports. Despite the Russian shelling, the Polish, Czech, and Slovenian prime ministers traveled to Kyiv Tuesday for in-person talks with Zelensky and other Ukrainian lawmakers, reports the BBC.
Polish deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, described the Russians as "barbarians" and said the trip was "obviously risky"—but the leaders decided it was a risk "worth taking for the sake of values, for the sake of our common security, and for the sake of solidarity." Zelensky also spoke to Canadian lawmakers Tuesday, the CBC reports. The president, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "a champion for democracy," repeated his call for a no-fly zone and asked Canadians to imagine their own country under attack. "What if the CN Tower was being bombed?" he asked. "What if Edmonton was left undefended against aerial attacks? What if Canadian schools were the ones being bombed, Canadian children the ones being killed?" (Zelensky will speak to Congress Wednesday morning.)
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