Jakarta –
Ukraine he denied that he was under Western pressure to negotiate with Russia. Ukraine said the talks could only be held if Russia gave up all occupied territories.
The statement came just days after a high-profile Washington Post report that the United States had pushed Kiev to signal a willingness to talk. It also coincides with the US by-elections whose results could test Western support Ukraine.
In a speech before addressing world leaders at a climate summit, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy read what he called “fully understandable conditions” for peace talks in Ukraine.
“Once again – restoration of territorial integrity, compliance with the UN Charter, compensation for all damage caused by war, punishment for every war criminal and assurances that this will never happen again”,
Ukraine is said to have repeatedly proposed such talks, but “we always get Russia’s crazy response with new terrorist attacks, shootings or extortion,” Zelenskiy said.
Earlier on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Moscow’s position that it was open to talks, but Kiev refused. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it will not negotiate on the territory it claims has been annexed to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy’s senior adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said it was not reasonable to suggest that Western countries would push Kiev to negotiate on Moscow terms. According to him, this is due to the fact that they are supplying Ukraine with weapons to drive Russian troops off its soil.
“We are pushing Russian soldiers out of the region and, in this context, forcing ourselves to a negotiation process, and indeed to recognize the ultimatum of the Russian Federation, is nonsense! And nobody will,” he said in an interview. at Radio Liberty. .
He said there was “no coercion” in Kiev’s relations with Washington and the suggestion that the West was pushing Ukraine to negotiate was part of Russia’s “information program”, although he did not directly contest the report from the Washington Post.
(dwia / dwia)
