As Russian forces continue to bomb Ukrainian population centers, including civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian authorities continue to insist that the skies over Ukraine be closed to Russian aviation, but at the same time consider the issue realistically, Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak has said.

"If you're hearing every day from NATO officials that it's not going to happen, we're not even told 'it's a debatable issue,' but only 'it's never going to happen' ... What shall we do then? We're realists. We give our partners some way out. We continue to offer our partners: it's not just the Ukraine-Russia war, we protect you. If something were to happen in Chornobyl or at a nuclear power plant, it would be a 10 times bigger disaster than Chornobyl, and the population of Europe would have to be evacuated. And all the peoples of the world would be asking their governments: `What are you doing?`" Yermak said in an interview with The New Yorker, Bild and Le Monde, the president's press service reported.

He also recalled that before the Russian invasion, world leaders had not heeded Ukraine's calls for preventive sanctions, which, along with military aid, were a serious factor in deterring the aggressor and could have influenced the situation before the war began.

"We keep talking about sanctions, and we turned to my good friend Michael McFaul to analyze sanctions. We analyze every sanction-how it works, where we're being cheated, where we've learned how to circumvent these sanctions. These are sanctions that are supposed to have an early efficacy. There is a war going on today, we are paying the highest price - we are paying with human lives. There is no time for lyrics and no procrastination when our people are being killed," stressed Yermak.

At present, thanks to the international restrictive measures imposed on Russia and the successful deterrence of armed aggression by the Ukrainian army, Russia has moved from the language of ultimatums to dialogue, although this dialogue is difficult.

As Yermak emphasized, Ukraine has always been in favor of dialogue and most of all wants to achieve peace. But there are fundamental issues on which concessions are impossible.

"Under Zelensky, Ukraine will not give up a single centimeter of our territory," he pointed out.

He also noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team had been changing the perception of Ukraine from a constantly begging country to a country that should be spoken to on an equal footing from the beginning of his cadence with all their might.

"And today we have been fighting for 36 days against one of the strongest armies in the world. We have proven to everyone that we are a serious player that everyone will have to respect," Yermak said.

In his opinion, Ukraine with its fight for European values, for freedom and justice once proved that it deserves its rightful place among European countries. Today President Zelensky has become the leader of the free world, and all the Ukrainian people - a real hero.

"Some of the people of the world are willing to do more than their politicians. People don't believe the excuse why we can't do everything necessary now for Ukraine to be a member of the EU," Yermak said.