- Mykhaylo Podolyak, Zelensky's adviser, says Ukraine now has the initiative.
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| Ukrainian soldiers advance along a road in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. |
"To negotiate with Russia is to surrender": Ukraine rejects Western attempts to start peace talks
Attempts to bring the war in Ukraine to a negotiated end continue to increase as ten months have elapsed since the start of the Russian invasion of its neighboring country.
It is the Western allies themselves who are now trying to get Kyiv to sit at a negotiating table to agree on a ceasefire. But the government of Volodimir Zelenski has no intention of doing so, for now.
Mykhaylo Podolyak, the adviser to the Ukrainian president, has made a statement in which he rejects a negotiation now. "When you have the initiative on the battlefield, it's a bit strange to receive proposals like: 'you won't be able to do everything by military means anyway, you have to negotiate," he said, in statements collected by the Daily Mail.
"This would mean that the country that recovers its territories must capitulate to the country that is losing," Podolyak argued. "Putin still thinks that he can destroy Ukraine, that is his obsession, and negotiating with him is pointless," added the presidential adviser.
"The West cannot pressure Ukraine to negotiate," he insisted, adding: "Our allies still believe that it is possible to return to the pre-war era when Russia is a reliable partner."
US media have recently reported that some senior officials were beginning to encourage Ukraine to consider talks, which Zelensky has so far rejected without a prior withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory.
Podolyak says that Moscow has not made "any direct proposals" to Kyiv for peace talks, preferring to pass them on through intermediaries and even raising the possibility of a ceasefire.
The Ukrainian government sees these talks as mere maneuvers by the Kremlin to buy time and prepare a new offensive. "Russia does not want negotiations. Russia is carrying out a communication campaign called negotiations," the presidential adviser said.
"He will just stop for a while. In the meantime, he will train his mobilized forces, find additional weapons and strengthen his positions," he warned.
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