Poroshenko on Russia's withdrawal from talks: Putin never wanted peace, he must be forced into it by strength
The key instrument for stopping the Russian-Ukrainian war is not a negotiating group, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine, leader of the European Solidarity party and Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko has said.
"We have to be realistic: Putin never wanted peace, Putin never even allowed for a ceasefire. No one in the world wants the war to end and peace to come as much as we Ukrainians do. But we must have a key instrument to make peace happen. And that is not a negotiating group. Our main argument for ending the war is the Armed Forces of Ukraine, their strength, technological capability, staffing and provision," Poroshenko said on the Priamyi television channel, commenting on statements by Vladimir Putin’s representative about the unwillingness to continue the negotiation process.
In this context, he stressed the importance of supporting his initiative that military taxes, including the military levy, should be used exclusively to provide for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the politician, this would make it possible to increase not only financial support, but also the technological advantage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces over the occupiers: "This will be the most powerful motivation for Putin to end the war, and we will not need to persuade Ushakov, Lavrov or Peskov to return and sit down at the negotiating table – they will have no other choice."
"I believe in the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to provide exactly this kind of response to Russia’s desire to continue the war. And I believe in the effectiveness of coordinated actions by our partners. Then we will not care whether Russia wants or does not want to continue peace talks," Poroshenko said.
He also emphasized the need to restore effective communication with the United States "so that, if Russia rejects the proposal of the entire civilized world, we have very carefully calculated sanctions."
"We should not discuss some secret Russian fantasies in the form of 28 points, which they pass on through Witkoff, Dmitriev or Yermak. Our position is an unconditional, comprehensive ceasefire. What we did in 2014-2015 when concluding the Minsk agreements," the politician said.
According to him, there is now no more important task than providing for the Armed Forces, ensuring internal unity and involving allies in peace talks. "Then the Russians will simply have no opportunity to say that they are ignoring or not participating in this process," Poroshenko said.
As reported, on the evening of May 7, Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said there was currently no point in another round of trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia, as for further progress Ukraine allegedly had to withdraw its troops from its own territories in Donbas.
In Ukraine, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation Andriy Kovalenko responded by saying that Russia had thus officially admitted that it "does not plan to end the war, since Ukraine refuses to leave its own land." "That is exactly what had to be proven - they never needed any peace, only an attempt to gain a foothold for a further offensive without a fight. Ukraine has clearly stated that it will not leave its land," he said on Telegram on Thursday.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhy, for his part, noted: "For those who know Russian, this is a real Freudian slip by Putin’s aide: he demands that Ukraine withdraw troops from Donetsk region so that hostilities ‘pause,’ not ‘stop.’ A clear admission: Moscow seeks a respite, not peace. The liars have been exposed."
