Ukrainian President’s Office: No grounds for resuming negotiations with Russia

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – FRIDAY, 22 JULY 2022, 23:41

Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and a member of the Ukrainian negotiation group, believes that there are currently no grounds to resume negotiations with Russia, the aggressor country.

Source: Podolyak in an interview with DW

Details: When asked whether he thinks there are grounds to resume negotiations, Podolyak said: "No, there are no grounds."

He added that the Russians seem to live "in an alternative reality."

Quote from Podolyak: "It’s an illusory vision of a large country. But in reality, Russia is not large, but small, worthless country with a low level of intellectual development. All it has are nuclear weapons, a large amount of conventional weapons, and energy sources.

And an enormous number of people, who from a very early age begin to imbibe potions that deprive them of their ability to think. As a result, they can be used as manpower anywhere: in Syria, Georgia, Ukraine. It is very difficult to hold negotiations with an enemy whose four or five political elite members are lame-brained […] They only speak the language of ultimatums."

More details: Podolyak said that negotiations will only resume when the Ukrainian army has decisive tactical victories on the southern and eastern fronts.

"This means: Kherson, Berdiansk, advancing to the coast of the Azov Sea and its waters, reclaiming Mariupol. A tactical retreat of the Russian army won’t do, as many as possible of their military personnel and equipment will have to be killed and destroyed. So that the Russian people can begin to ask: "What are we paying such a high price, human lives, for?" […] So we need to inflict military losses on Russia, and then we can return to the negotiation table," Podolyak stated.

Earlier:

• On 3 July, Podolyak said that Ukraine’s conditions for negotiations are the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the return of abducted citizens and a reparations mechanism.
• Previously, Dmitriy Peskov, press-secretary for the President of the Russian Federation, claimed that Ukraine has to understand Russia’s conditions and resume talks.

On 17 May, Podolyak confirmed that talks with Russia were suspended for a number of reasons.