President’s Office asks Macron what there is to negotiate with Putin after French leader calls for talks
Ukrainian President’s Office Mykhailo Podolyak (Photo:president.gov.ua)
A senior Ukrainian official has asked French President Emmanuel Macron to clarify what would be up for negotiation between Ukraine and Russia to end the war.
Macron reiterated on Nov. 8 made another call for talks between Kyiv and Moscow on ending the war.
According to him, the negotiations should take place on the terms that will be chosen by Kyiv, but without "absolutely radical ones."
"At some point, we will have to return to the negotiating table," Macron said.
In turn, the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Mykhailo Podolyak noted that Ukraine is open to negotiations, but Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is not ready for them, as the position in which Russia will find itself is unacceptable to him.
Podolyak asked Macron what conditions – in the opinion of those who are trying to persuade Kyiv to dialogue with the aggressor – could be acceptable.
"A question to ‘peacekeepers’: what do you mean by the word ‘negotiations’?" Podolyak responded on Twitter.
“Russian ultimatums are well-known: ‘we came with tanks, admit defeat and territories loss’. This is unacceptable. So what to talk about? Or you just hide the word ‘surrender’ behind the word ‘settlement’?”
After a series of mass Russian strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved on Oct. 4 a decision of the National Security and Defense Council on the impossibility of negotiations with the current Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The President’s Office said that the dialogue could begin when the authorities in Russia change.
In turn, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that Ukraine's success in possible negotiations with Russia will depend on the situation on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy later said that Ukraine would be able to find a format for dialogue with Russia if Russians retreated from the occupied Ukrainian territories and admitted that they had made a "terrible mistake."
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