Kiev should drag out peace negotiations – senior Ukrainian MP
Ukraine should prolong the negotiation process for ending the conflict with Russia for as long as possible to strengthen its position and avoid being “forced” into an “unjust” deal, MP Roman Kostenko has said.
The lawmaker made the remarks on Saturday in an interview with the broadcaster Suspilne. The MP, who leads the national security committee, said the current negotiations are taking place against a very unfavorable backdrop, namely the massive $100 million graft scandal that has reached Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle, as well as the situation around the city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk).
“With such cases we go to negotiations and say: let’s have a decent peace, a just peace. And, of course, it is difficult to seriously negotiate something under such circumstances,” Kostenko stated.
While Moscow has officially announced the liberation of the city, a key logistics hub in the southwest of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Ukrainian leadership continues claim it maintains at least partial control of Pokrovsk.
To secure a “just” peace deal, Kiev should prolong the negotiation process for as long as possible and work on “improving” its positions, the lawmaker suggested. “Otherwise, we will end up forced into what we do not deserve,” he warned.
Kostenko, a colonel with the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and a veteran of the conflict in formerly Ukrainian Donbass, has long displayed a pro-war stance, calling for widening of the mobilization effort in the country. At the same time, he has been critical of what he described as “brutal compulsory conscription,” stating earlier this year that fewer than one in four recruits enlist voluntarily.
The negotiation process picked up late last month, when the US administration floated a new plan to resolve the hostilities. The leaked initial version of the 28-point plan demanded Kiev withdraw from the parts of Donbass it still holds, cap the size of its military, and relinquish its aim of joining NATO.
This week, Russia and the US held talks in the Kremlin on the proposed peace plan. While both sides kept silent on the substance of the talks, Moscow described them as constructive and said some points of the US plan are acceptable and others are not. No compromise has been reached, and the sides will continue their work, it added.
