No grounds to resume peace talks with Russia, says Zelenskyy's office
There are no grounds to resume peace talks with Russia now, but it would be possible in case of Russia's military defeat, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with German newspaper Deutsche Welle on July 22.
"Russia is the country, which Ken Kesey's co-author placed in the hospital from the novel 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,” Podolyak said.
“There is no reality there. They live in another world. It's an illusory world of a big country."
According to Podolyak, "Russia is actually not that big, but a small insignificant country with a small intellectual level."
"It has only nuclear weapons, a huge number of conventional weapons and energy carriers," he stressed.
"And also an insane number of people who, from a very young age, start using special tinctures in order not to have brains. After that, they can be used as manpower anywhere: in Syria, Georgia, Ukraine. It's very difficult to conduct negotiations with an enemy who has two convolutions for every four or five representatives of the political elite."
Podolyak emphasized that Russians can only speak the language of ultimatums.
According to him, negotiations with Russia may take place in case of powerful tactical victories of the Ukrainian army in the southern and eastern areas.
"These are Kherson, Berdyansk, an exit to the Azov marine area – regaining Mariupol,” he explained.
“This should not be just a tactical withdrawal of the Russian army, but the destruction of the maximum number of manpower and military equipment, in order for society in Russia to start asking: 'Why is such a price paid by people?' Therefore, it's necessary to inflict a military defeat on Russia, and then we will sit down at the negotiating table."
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