Top Zelensky Adviser Rejects Peace Talks with Russia

Top Zelensky Adviser Rejects Peace Talks with Russia

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov this week rejected the idea that Kyiv would engage in peace talks with Moscow as the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages on.

“There’s no way to have conversations with them; you can’t talk with terrorists,” he told NatSec Daily, adding that Ukraine would not end the war until it had reclaimed all of its territory, including Crimea.”

“Everything will be linked once again, including Crimea,” he continued. “Not one meter will be left for the taking of the enemy. If any of our partners suggest that we should leave something behind or give it away, the Ukrainian people for sure will never accept that.”

Russia currently occupies large swaths of Ukraine’s southern territories, including land in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimean regions. Crimea was under Russian control prior to the invasion.

Though Kyiv was able to turn back the Russian assault on the capital and reclaim occupied territories in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, the counteroffensive has stalled and the two armies are locked in a bitter struggle for the Donetsk city of Bakmut.

Ukraine has expressed openness to a peace negotiation through the United Nations, but set the precondition that Russia face a war crimes tribunal, a proposal that has thus far gone nowhere.

Russia, for its part, asserts that it remains open to negotiations and has never refused to settle the dispute diplomatically but that the Kyiv government is unwilling to negotiate in good faith.