Territorial concessions by Ukraine cannot be part of ceasefire agreement – Poroshenko
The fifth president and leader of European Solidarity, Petro Poroshenko, said that territorial concessions by Ukraine cannot be part of the ceasefire agreement.
He said this on the air of the French television channel BFM TV
“No territorial concessions or land swaps can be part of a ceasefire agreement. This is what Putin wants because he understands that neither the Ukrainian people nor the Ukrainian government and parliament will agree to give up Ukrainian territory to the path,” Poroshenko said.
“I want to be absolutely clear: this is not an exchange of Russian territory under Ukrainian control for Ukrainian territory under Russian control. No, Putin wants to legitimize his illegal annexation, aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territory along with Ukrainian people. And this certainly cannot be part of a ceasefire agreement. This is a long-term and very dubious result of freezing the conflict,” the fifth President believes.
“I just want to convey to you the position of all Ukrainians. We do not trade on our territory. We do not trade our land. Such a situation would create a very dangerous precedent and would be an aggressive violation of international law, which could be repeated with any European country. Today Putin wants our Crimea, tomorrow he will want Corsica in France. The day after tomorrow he will want some Polish, Baltic, Romanian or any other territory. We must not create this precedent. Putin has absolutely no reason to act this way. And no one in the world should support these crazy ideas,” Petro Poroshenko emphasized.
“We need to speak to Putin in the language of force. If Putin does not cease fire, does not agree to a truce, if Putin does not stop attacking Ukrainian civilians, if he does not stop killing Ukrainians, if he does not stop seizing Ukrainian land, then there will be a ‘plan B’. This means more weapons for Ukraine, including offensive, not just defensive, long-range weapons, including French, British and American missiles,” Poroshenko said.
“Putin should have no illusions that he will pay a high price if he does not stop the war. Point two: we need to strengthen sanctions to deprive the paths of the ability to finance the war. Point three: we must use frozen Russian assets to strengthen Ukraine. Point four: we must not accept the language of blackmail on the transatlantic and European integration of Ukraine. And point five: our unity will become even stronger. We preserve democracy and freedom inside Ukraine and strengthen our democracy,” the fifth president listed.
“We can only discuss a peace agreement when there is a ceasefire. And we must focus on a very clear message, the same one I promoted during the preparation of the Minsk agreements: an unconditional ceasefire. We need a comprehensive ceasefire – I mean, in the air, at sea and on the ground. And we need security guarantees that would ensure that these promises are fulfilled,” the fifth President said.
As is known, on August 15, in Anchorage, Alaska, negotiations were held between US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. In the run-up to the meeting, there were serious concerns in the expert and political community that the result of the negotiations would be an “exchange of territories”, that is, in fact, the legalization of the occupied Ukrainian lands by the Russian Federation.
Following the talks, Trump and Putin held a joint press conference. “Pryamoy” collected all the key statements by the leaders of the US and Russia . After the talks, the US President said that the summit was constructive and gave grounds for optimism. He announced consultations with NATO and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but stressed that there are no final agreements yet .
In addition, Donald Trump said that both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky want to see him present at a potential joint meeting on peace settlement in Ukraine. Trump also refused to impose new sanctions against Russia and confirmed that during the talks he discussed territorial agreements and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin stressed after the talks that the war in Ukraine could only be resolved after its “fundamental causes” had been eliminated and the security balance in Europe had been restored. He called the meeting “mutually important” and invited the American leader to the next summit in Moscow.
Meanwhile, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has harshly assessed the results of the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, stating that the Russian dictator achieved most of what he wanted , while the American president received only the prospect of further conversations.
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