Russia is not ready for serious peace negotiations with Ukraine as long as it believes that it can achieve its goals through pressure and force Kiev to capitulate. This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga.
“As long as Russia believes that it can achieve the goals of its invasion by putting pressure on Ukraine, it will not be ready for serious negotiations“, Sibiga said.
According to him, Moscow hopes to achieve goals at the negotiating table that it has failed to achieve on the battlefield. He said that the Russian strategy is aimed at weakening Ukrainian resistance and forcing a capitulation.
Kiev urges pressure on Moscow
Sybiga defined maintaining and intensifying pressure on Russia as critical to ending the war. “Peace through force is the only strategy that works”, the Ukrainian minister said.
He added that the pressure should be directed against the aggressor, not against the state that is defending itself. According to Sybiga, the war cannot end with the cessation of Ukrainian resistance, but only with the cessation of Russian attacks.
Moscow declares readiness for new talks
Sybiga's statement followed an announcement from Moscow that Russia is ready to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States after November 4. This was stated by Yuri Ushakov, an adviser to the Russian president on international affairs.
A specific date for a new round of negotiations has not been announced. Previous reports indicated that the talks could take place in early or mid-November, with Abu Dhabi being mentioned among the possible locations.
Thus, Kiev and Moscow state different assessments of Russia's readiness for negotiations. The Ukrainian side emphasizes the cessation of Russian attacks and pressure on Moscow, while the Kremlin talks about resuming talks, without a specific timetable being specified yet.
Sources: pravda.com.ua, kyivindependent.com, devdiscourse.com