Kuleba states under what conditions Ukraine will enter into negotiations with Russia
IRYNA BALACHUK – TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 10:43
Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has stated that Ukraine does not reject negotiations with Russia, but is ready to agree to them only when it comes to the full restoration of territorial integrity.
Source: Kuleba in an interview with RBC-Ukraine
Quote from the Minister: "No one rejects the option of negotiations, every war ends with negotiations, but it is your position at the negotiating table that matters. Today, negotiations with Russia are being conducted on the battlefield, and this is the only type of negotiations that it really understands.
But we are ready to sit down at the table when it comes to the complete restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. And we are articulating this very clearly to all partners; they have also not ruled out the possibility of negotiations."
Details: According to Kuleba, international partners agree that there are currently no indicators that Russia is ready for such serious negotiations, or that the conditions for such negotiations are already in place.
The minister added that Ukraine is currently struggling to regain every square kilometre of its territory, and wants to regain control of the occupied areas.
At the same time, Kuleba suggested that "part of the territory of Ukraine will be liberated by military means, and part, perhaps, by diplomatic means".
He also noted that at the moment when Russia gives a "serious signal of readiness for negotiations", then both Ukraine and its partners will have to "very carefully analyse why this signal was sent".
Kuleba believes that Russia will show "serious interest in real negotiations at the moment when it realises and comes to terms with the fact that its position has weakened as much as possible, it can’t even keep what it has captured, it will need to rapidly stabilise the situation".
He added that it would not even be about "saving face", but about preserving what they control at the time.
Quote from Kuleba: "But then a logical question arises: if at this moment we are successfully on the offensive and we are liberating our territories, why do we need to agree on something with the aggressor?
Our ultimate goal is the liberation of our territories. We are not at war with them in order to sit down and somehow agree that they will stay here."
Background:
- From the end of August, Ukrainian troops went on a counteroffensive in Kherson and then in Kharkiv oblasts. According to analysts' calculations, in the first days of September, the Armed Forces of Ukraine recaptured more territories than the Russians had captured since April.
- The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, fleeing from the Kharkiv region, left behind their military equipment, but the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation called this a planned regrouping of troops to increase efforts on the Donetsk front.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine stressed that it remains impossible to negotiate the end of the war with the Russian Federation because it has failed to formulate any adequate positions and is unlikely to keep its own promises, and Ukrainian society "does not want to talk with terrorists".
- After the liberation of the settlements of Kharkiv Oblast by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said that Moscow is not opposed to negotiations with Ukraine.
- Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said that Russia still demands "total surrender of Ukraine on its own terms".
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