A deal with Russia to end the war with Ukraine would be tantamount to deal with the devil, Mykhailo Podolyak, senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in an interview with the Associated Press, BTA reported.
According to Podoliak, an agreement would give Russian President Vladimir Putin time to strengthen his army and proceed to a new, perhaps fiercer phase of the war. “If you are signing a deal with the devil that will then drag you to hell, then give. Russia is like that”, said Podoliak, when asked about the possibility of a peace agreement for Kiev.
„If you sign something with Russia today, where it does not lose the war and is not legally responsible for mass crimes, it means that you have signed a ticket to continue the war on a different scale, with other protagonists, with a different number of killed and tortured people”, said the adviser to the Ukrainian president.
A similar point of view is shared among Zelensky's team and broad sections of the Ukrainian population, AP claims. But at the same time, Kiev continues to face complex conditions on the front against the larger and well-armed Russian army, as well as uncertainty about the level of political support from Ukraine's closest ally, the United States. A survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that the share of Ukrainians who oppose territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for peace continues to decline. It was 55% in July compared to 74% in December last year.
Zelensky has even hinted at a desire to negotiate with Russia for the first time since the full-scale invasion in 2022, suggesting that Moscow should send a delegation to the next world peace summit, expected in November, AP notes .
But Podoliak insisted that a deal now would only postpone more violence. “Yes, there may be a freeze on the conflict for a while. But this means that Russia will work on its mistakes and modernize its army. The aggressor country did not come to the territory of Ukraine to sign a peace agreement, he said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is closely following the twists and turns in the US election campaign. Podoliak said that President Zelensky is convinced that his government has established good relations with both sides of the vote. “Ukraine has good relations with both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. It is not about personal relationships at the candidate-leader level. It is about institutional relations between the American parties and the parties and institutions in Ukraine, he added. “Irrespective of who is at the helm of the White House, I do not see a scenario in which it will be possible to stop aid to Ukraine”, he concluded.