Former Ukrainian foreign minister warns against hopes for "peace" with Russia thanks to Trump

Dmytro Kuleba, the former Foreign Minister of Ukraine, has warned against hopes for peace between Russia and Ukraine due to the future efforts of US President-elect Donald Trump and stressed that the Kremlin regime continues to pursue its original goals.

Source: Kuleba in an interview with Politico; European Pravda reports

Quote: "Putin still believes he can snuff out Ukrainian statehood and crush Ukraine as an independent democracy, and he thinks he’s one step away from exposing the West as weak... Ukraine is a personal obsession for Putin, but crushing Ukraine is also a means to accomplish his grand goal – to show to the world how the West is incapable of defending itself or what it stands for."

Details: Kuleba stressed that the Russian ruler is not really interested in genuine negotiations. Kuleba said that he sees no chance of success for Trump's plans to quickly end the war, as Putin now hopes to exhaust the West and eventually get his way.

The former Ukrainian foreign minister said that he has no idea how President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could agree to "peace" with the demands that Moscow will definitely make.

"The Russians keep the Donbas, they keep Crimea, no NATO membership. Can Zelenskyy sign? He cannot because of the Constitution. And because it will be the end of Zelenskyy politically," he said.

He also stressed that if Trump starts forcing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia by radically limiting military aid, the situation could deteriorate catastrophically.

"The front line in the Donbas will collapse and the Russians will be at the gates of Dnipro, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia. That will be the most dangerous moment for Ukraine in this war," he said.

Kuleba noted that it is also important to know how the European partners will act and to what extent they will be able to cover the shortage of American weapons.

He regretted that the West as a whole still lacks awareness of the importance of the consequences of Russia's war against Ukraine and a clear understanding of its own goals.

"You cannot win a war where Russia clearly knows what its strategic goal is in every detail; [where] Ukraine knows what its strategic goal is in every detail; but [where] the West, without whom Ukraine cannot win, does not know what it is fighting for. This is the real tragedy of this war," Kuleba said.

Background:

• Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to end the war between Russia and Ukraine "in 24 hours." But as far as is known, he has not had any specific plans to implement this.
• At the same time, media reports suggest that the idea of freezing the frontline on the current contact line with the demilitarised zone and a 20-year moratorium on Ukraine's accession to NATO are among the proposals.
• In the first days after the US presidential election, Zelenskyy stressed that the idea of any concessions to Russia was unacceptable for Ukraine and would be "suicide for the whole of Europe".
• Later, he estimated that the war would "end faster" under Trump.

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