“These people were not prepared to negotiate. They were just technical staff with nearly no influence in Russia. They came, read out certain ultimatums, and that’s it!” the presidential adviser added.
Ukraine criticises calls for Russia talks as ‘uninformed or misled’
Ukraine criticises calls for Russia talks as ‘uninformed or misled’
Almost two years after those meetings collapsed, there are growing calls for Ukrainian officials to return to negotiations with the Kremlin to hash out a diplomatic end to the fighting.
Those pleas are coming in the wake of a disappointing Ukrainian counteroffensive that – despite stockpiles of Western weapons – failed to win back territory in the south or east.
And they are building as concerns grow over the West’s commitment to supporting Ukraine, and disruptions to ammunition deliveries.
Putin is a habitual liar who promised international leaders he would not attack Ukraine days before his invasion in February 2022
Officials say almost all agreements that Kyiv entered into since the collapse of the Soviet Union were scrapped by Moscow, and that sitting down with Russia is pointless at best and dangerous at worst.
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a habitual liar who promised international leaders that he would not attack Ukraine days before his invasion in February 2022,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba said recently.
He cited agreements from 1994, 1997, 2014 and 2015 in which Russia had agreed to recognise and respect Ukrainian territorial integrity or commit to terms of fighting that Kuleba said Moscow had brazenly disregarded.
The decision was informed by Ukraine’s discovery of mass civilian killings in places like Bucha, where Zelensky said evidence of atrocities made the prospect of talks “harder”.
The Kremlin, by contrast, has often said that it is ready to sit down with Ukraine.
“We have to think about how to stop this tragedy,” he added.
The Kremlin would benefit from entering into talks that would give it time to reconstitute its military for later attacks, he said.
And, he said, Putin’s comments could be seen as an effort to placate Russians who are increasingly eager for the war to end, recent polling shows, ahead of elections scheduled for March.
“Putin has nothing to lose by pretending to want peace,” Gould-Davies said.
Putin “might pretend to compromise at an opportune moment only to go to war next.”
Echoing talking points in Kyiv, Kozyrev argued the only way to end the fighting was to give Kyiv the “most potent weapons to defeat the invaders as soon as possible.”
There have however been glimmers of hope that contact between the two sides could bear fruit.
Russia’s daily Ukraine casualties at all time high: UK intelligence
Russia’s daily Ukraine casualties at all time high: UK intelligence
But Moscow scrapped the deal less than one year later, claiming its interests had been overlooked.
Even if Russian and Ukrainian delegations were to sit down at this stage in the conflict, they would have nothing to talk about, former negotiator Podolyak said.
“They have military arguments: ‘We will continue to attack you.’ We have the argument: ‘We will defeat you.’”
“These are not negotiating positions,” he said. “The point of no return has been passed.”