Ukraine allows possibility of freezing war with Russia - Presidential Office explains conditions
Photo: Adviser to the Head of the Presidential Office Mykhailo Podolyak (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
One of the basic scenarios for ending the war in Ukraine could be freezing the conflict along the current front line, said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, La Repubblica reports.
"Ukraine’s preliminary position is as follows: we understand that one of the basic scenarios for exiting this war is freezing the conflict along the front line. These are the territories that are de facto occupied by Russia today. They will remain as such. And then there will be extensive work through economic, diplomatic, and other instruments to return these territories to Ukraine. But de jure they will remain Ukrainian," Podolyak said.
He emphasized that the transfer of territories to Russia is completely excluded.
"I don’t really understand how concessions to the aggressor can lead to ending the war. In this way, the aggressor does not pay for the aggression, just the other way round. So why should it stop? We would only encourage it. Moreover, President Zelenskyy has made it very clear: transferring territories to Russia is prohibited," the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office said.
Podolyak stressed that this concerns not only the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine, but also international law.
"This is not only a constitutional issue. This is a violation of an international prohibition. It is impossible to hand over territory to the aggressor unilaterally," he explained.
According to the adviser, even in the case of a frozen war, analogies with the Korean or German scenarios are inappropriate.
"There is often talk of a Korean or Finnish scenario. However, these are somewhat different cases. There it was about the internal issues of one country – Korea," Podolyak noted.
At the same time, he confirmed that if such a scenario were implemented, it would mean de facto but not de jure recognition of the temporarily occupied territories.
"Yes, exactly. De jure, no one will recognize these territories as Russian," he concluded.
Putin’s demands for ending the war
The Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, outlined a list of conditions that, in his view, could serve as the basis for ending the war against Ukraine. These are not limited to territorial issues.
According to Reuters, Moscow is ready to consider relinquishing some of the occupied Ukrainian lands, particularly in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. At the same time, Ukraine is being asked to give up parts of its eastern territories that Russia has failed to capture, including areas of the Donetsk region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his conversation with Trump, did not rule out the possibility of discussing territorial exchanges. However, he emphasized that any decision of this scale must be made only with the consent of the Ukrainian people.
