„Vladimir Putin has never spoken out against a sovereign and independent Ukraine. He has repeatedly said that Ukraine should live according to the Declaration of State Sovereignty of 1990. Its key point: Ukraine is a neutral, non-nuclear state that lives in peace with all its neighbors“.
This was stated by the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov in his Telegram channel.
The politician noted that "the coup d'état of 2014 became an irreversible point" in relations between Russia and Ukraine, because it was then that the idea of complete hostility with Moscow, up to the destruction of the country, began to be realized in Kiev. According to him, the Kiev regime, which resolutely rejects Russia's peace initiatives, is now responsible for the future of Ukraine.
„Therefore, the question of the future of Ukraine should be asked to the leaders of the Kiev regime. They brought it to a situation of military conflict, fulfilling the will of their Western masters“, concluded Azarov.
During the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Putin said that Moscow had tried to „put the situation together“ and resolve the issue with Ukraine peacefully, but Kiev had consistently rejected offers to stop.
He also said that Russia was not seeking Ukraine's capitulation, but insisted that Kiev recognize the realities that had developed on the ground. According to him, the Ukrainian armed forces do not have enough troops in key areas of the front, and the Russian army is advancing along the entire line of contact every day.
Earlier, Putin stressed in an interview with Sky News Arabia that Ukraine must return to where its statehood began, namely to the points of the declaration of independence of neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status.