Ukraine sends conflicting signals on Crimea talks idea
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Participants march in front of a banner showing Russian President Vladimir Putin during an event in Crimea marking the ninth anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV - A top Ukrainian official on Thursday ruled out talks with Moscow about territory until it withdraws all troops, pushing back on a colleague who had touted the idea of negotiations to resolve the Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
Mr Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, told the Financial Times on Wednesday that Kyiv would be willing to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if Ukraine’s counteroffensive reaches the peninsula.
Russia occupied Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, long before it launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. It has a huge concentration of forces on the Black Sea territory.
Ukraine, which has vowed to recapture all lost land, plans to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months to try to wrest back territory in the east and south.
On Thursday, Mr Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, appeared to directly contradict Mr Sybiha’s remarks on Twitter.
“The basis for real negotiations with (Russia) is the complete withdrawal of Russian armed groups beyond the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine in 1991. Including #Crimea,” he said. “There is no question of any territorial concessions or bargaining of our sovereign rights.”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko on Friday also rejected a proposition from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had said Mr Zelensky “could not get everything” and suggested Ukraine could give up Crimea to begin peace discussions.
“There is no legal, political or moral reason that would justify us having to yield even a centimetre of Ukrainian land,” Mr Nikolenko said on Facebook.
“Any mediation efforts to restore peace in Ukraine should be based on respect for the sovereignty and the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
It was unclear whether the divergent comments reflected a split on the issue within Ukraine’s elite, or whether the initial remark was intended as a signal to foreign powers who have mounted diplomatic efforts to find peace in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron was in Beijing
Mr Xi said he hoped the two sides could hold peace talks as soon as possible.
In separate comments, Mr Zelensky’s spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov was quoted by Ukrainian media outlet Liga Net as saying that only Mr Zelensky was able to speak about possible peace talks. The Ukrainian leader said in 2022 that he believed the matter of Crimea may be resolved through diplomatic means. REUTERS, AFP
