Ukraine will not consider entering into ceasefire negotiations with Russia, Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin said in an interview with the BBC over the weekend.
“I don’t think the question of resuming any negotiations is possible,” the attorney general said on Friday, reaffirming kyiv’s belief that the collection of evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, along with international cooperation against the Kremlin, is crucial to hold Russia to account for its war.
There have been no public attempts to reconvene peace talks between the two sides since efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Istanbul during the first weeks of the conflict broke down with no progress.
Ukraine’s top prosecutor reminds Europe who suffers the most
Kostin also rejected recently reported pressure from the United States and the West to be more lenient on ceasefire talks.
“They don’t hear the missiles. They don’t know what a bombing is. They don’t know what it’s like to kill, rape, loot,” he told British state broadcaster when asked about the impact of the war on European citizens outside war-torn Ukraine. “Ukrainians are paying [con] their lives for the same fight,” he said, acknowledging the economic consequences of Russia’s war efforts, which include an international rise in the cost of living and rising gas prices.
Is Ukraine being forced into a ceasefire with Russia?
The Washington Post reported in early November that the United States had encouraged Ukraine to show its willingness to enter into talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office denied this last week, and his top adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said it was absurd to suggest that Western countries pressure kyiv to negotiate on Moscow’s terms, since they were the ones they supplied Ukraine with the weapons to expel Russian forces from its territory.
He said there was “no coercion” in kyiv’s relationship with Washington, and that suggestions that the West was pressuring Ukraine to negotiate were part of Russia’s “information program,” though he did not directly refute the Washington Post report. .
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also disputed the claims, reaffirming in a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that “the timing and content of any negotiating framework remain Ukraine’s decision.” ”.
Since Russia announced the annexation of Ukrainian territory in late September, Zelensky has said that kyiv would never negotiate as long as Vladimir Putin ruled Russia.
Information of: The Jerusalem Post
Photo credits: Reuters
