Putin lost his chance to get out of his failed war
Andrii Sybiha (photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wasted an opportunity to exit a failing war by rejecting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposal for direct peace talks.
According to Sybiha, Putin's refusal is bad news for Russians, as the situation for Russia will only worsen.
"Battlefield losses will continue to grow. Failures will get more humiliating. The economy will plunge deeper into recession. More jobs will be lost, taxes will be growing, and inflation will hit those most vulnerable," the minister wrote on X.
He also added that there are now no safe places in Russia "that can be exempt from Ukraine's long-range sanctions" (referring to strikes), and that the intensity of attacks will continue to increase.
In addition, international pressure will not ease but instead will continue to grow, including through the use of frozen assets, travel bans, and inevitable accountability for crimes.
Sybiha emphasized that all of this is happening because "the fanatic in the Kremlin wants to keep in power at any cost" and is willing to sacrifice his country's future and the lives of millions of people "for his insane delusions."
"All of this because he doesn't want to admit a simple truth: he will never achieve his goals on the battlefield and he better abandon his delusional hopes of Ukraine collapsing soon, support from its partners waning, or pressure on Russia easing," the minister wrote.
To summarize, the foreign minister stressed that Russia will still have to make a diplomatic decision, but under much worse conditions.
"Putin's refusal of peace should lead to a significant increase in international pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine," he concluded.
Background
Earlier, on June 4, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In it, the Ukrainian leader said Kyiv was ready to end the war through direct negotiations and called on the Kremlin leader to set a time and place for a meeting to reach an agreement.
Putin, speaking at the St. Petersburg economic forum, responded to the letter by complaining about its "elements of rudeness" and rejecting the proposal for a personal meeting, saying he saw "no point" in such talks.
Afterward, Zelenskyy stated that Putin does not want peace and is once again choosing to continue the war.
