“This means that the country that is fighting back, that is regaining its territory has to give way to the country that is losing,” Podoliak added.
The West’s attempts to push Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow, following a series of major military victories by Kyiv, are “strange” considering that negotiating now would be tantamount to “surrender”, Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“When you have the initiative on the battlefield, it’s a little strange to receive proposals like this: you can’t do everything through the military anyway, you negotiate,” Podoliak said in an interview with Agence France-Presse from his office in the presidency.
“This means that the country that is fighting back, that is regaining its territory must give way to the country that is losing,” 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, achievable by military means”, estimated on November 9 the head of the general staff of the US national defense, General Mark Milley, estimating that there is “a window of opportunity for negotiations” .
According to Podoliak, Moscow “has not made any direct proposal” to Kyiv for talks, preferring to carry it through mediators and even talking about the possibility of a ceasefire.
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 conducting a communication campaign which it calls ‘negotiations,'” assured Podoliak.
No respite
“He just wants to buy time. In the meantime it will train reservists, find additional weapons” and reinforce its positions, he warned.
Because, despite his heavy military defeats, Russian President Vladimir Putin still believes that “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 counter-attack, despite the arrival of cold and snow that worsen the situation on the field.
“Today every small respite only increases the losses that Ukraine is suffering,” Zelensky’s adviser complained, as 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 Podilyak, Ukraine needs “another 150 to 200 tanks, about 300 armored vehicles,” about 100 artillery systems, 50 to 70 multiple rocket launchers, mainly the American HIMARS of which Kyiv already has several, as well as “ten to 15 anti-aircraft 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, these missiles “will bring the end of the war closer”, allowing Ukraine to “destroy large depots” of the Russian military located deep in the occupied territories, which it cannot currently reach with its weapons .
Kyiv “has no need” to attack military targets inside Russia, Podoliak assured. “The war will end when we regain control of our borders and when Russia fears Ukraine.”
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
