Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser, Mykhailo Podoliak, spoke about the pressure he receives from the West to enter into negotiations with Russia to end the war, which he describes as “strange” when they come at a time when the Ukraine has achieved a series of important military victories.
“When you have the initiative on the battlefield, it’s a bit strange to get proposals like that: you can’t do everything through the military anyway, you negotiate”emphasized Podoliak in an interview he gave to Agence France-Presse from his office at the presidency.
“This means that the country that fights back, that regains its territory, has to give way to the country that loses”he added.
US media have recently reported that some senior officials have begun encouraging Ukraine to consider talks with Russia, which Zelensky denies, unless Russian forces completely withdraw from Ukrainian soil first.
“Military victory is probably not, in the strict sense of the term, attainable by military means”the head of the US National Defense Staff, General Mark Milley, estimated on November 9, estimating that there is “a window of opportunity for negotiations”.
According to Podoliak, Moscow “has not made any direct proposals” to Kyiv for talkspreferring to transfer it through mediators and even talking about the possibility of a truce.
An idea that makes no sense to Kyiv, which sees the proposal as a maneuver by the Kremlin to create a lull in the fighting that will allow it to regroup and launch a new offensive. “Russia does not want negotiations. Russia is waging a communications campaign it calls “negotiations”.Podoliak assured.
No respite
“He just wants to buy time. In the meantime he will train the reservists, find additional weapons” and will strengthen its positions, he warned.
For, despite his heavy military defeats, Vladimir Putin still believes he “can destroy Ukraine, that’s his obsession” and negotiations with him “make no sense”Podoliak argued.
The West “is not putting pressure on Ukraine”he stressed, but expressed regret that “our partners still believe that it is still possible to return to the pre-war era, when Russia was a reliable partner.”
Following the massive Russian retreat from Kiev province in March and then from Kharkiv province in September, the liberation in November of Kherson, the only capital province the Russian army had captured since the start of the invasion, marks a ” fundamental” shift, according to Podoliak.
Ukraine cannot “allow any respite” in its counterattackdespite the arrival of cold and snow that worsen the situation in the field.
“Today every small respite only increases the losses that Ukraine is suffering”Zelensky’s advisor complained, while Moscow has been bombing the country’s energy infrastructure for weeks, plunging millions of households into darkness.
“To be afraid of Ukraine”
Zaporizhia (south) and Luhansk (east) provinces are now “the key directions” for the military, Podolak said, declining to comment on the possibility of a military operation to retake the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
In this context, the Ukrainian authorities hope for an increase in Western arms deliveries. “This is very important, especially in winter,” he estimated.
According to Pontillac, Ukraine needs “another 150 to 200 tanks, about 300 armored vehicles,” about 100 artillery systems, 50 to 70 multiple rocket launchers, mostly US HIMARS of which Kyiv already has several, as well as “ten to 15 air defense systems to close the sky”.
He also mentioned the American ATACMS missiles, which have a range of 300 kilometers, while that of the missiles that Ukraine now has does not exceed 80 kilometers.
According to Podoliak, they missiles ‘will bring the end of the war near’, allowing Ukraine to ‘destroy large depots’ of Russian military which are deep in the occupied territories and which it cannot currently reach with its weapons.
Kyiv has “no need” to attack military targets inside RussiaPodoliak assured. “The war will end when we regain control of our borders and when Russia fears Ukraine”.
Source: News Beast
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