Volodymyr Zelensky, in the next phase of talks to end the war in Ukraine, intends to draw a red line at the most contentious issue on the table: the Russian demand for Ukraine’s sovereign territory. As long as he remains the nation’s president, Zelensky will not agree to give up land in exchange for peace, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Andriy Yermak, told me today in an exclusive interview.

“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” said Yermak, who has served as Zelensky’s chief of staff, lead negotiator, and closest aide throughout the full-scale war with Russia.

“As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” he told me by telephone from Kyiv. “The constitution prohibits this. Nobody can do that unless they want to go against the Ukrainian constitution and the Ukrainian people.”

https://archive.ph/HaMwP

  • Electricd@lemmybefree.net
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    2 days ago

    Because the zone is a wasteland anyways, and the few that live there were pro Russian as far as I remember

    If a part of your country doesn’t want to belong to you anymore, then it shouldn’t (like Taiwan or Hong Kong)

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      because the zone is a wasteland.

      Only because of Russia. Imagine the implications of that mindset. Just bomb a place to shit them take it.

      the few remaining are pro Russian.

      False. Are you going off what Russia said?! Lol Russia killed, displaced, threatened, and lied about those votes.

      If a part of your country doesn’t want to belong to you anymore, then it shouldn’t

      We already established that’s built on a lie but even if that’s true that’s not a green light for Russia to invade.

        • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          You believe that an invading army that commits war crimes and comes from a country with no democracy is going to hold free and fair elections? Are you insane?

          • Electricd@lemmybefree.net
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            1 day ago

            I’m getting USA vibes

            Obviously it is something that means they can’t be fully trusted. Disregarding the results without searching for counter proof is dumb. This region was known for not being very pro Ukraine in the first place

      • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
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        1 day ago

        Do you have any data suggesting otherwise? Before the invasion, those people weren’t happy with the anti-russian language laws passed by the central government or the fascist militias they wouldn’t stop.

        • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Once again, you’re using a gaslighting argument called changing the argument. Russia should be allowed to invade Ukraine because a boarder region wants to leave? Even if that was true, the way Russia is going about claiming the region isn’t justified. If Russia cared so much they wouldn’t have turned the region into a wasteland. They wouldn’t have tried to take the capital. They wouldn’t be launching attacks well past the disputed area. Hell is you want to get specific, Russia wouldn’t have any right Crimea. But I guess you have the dame lies on hand for that region too.

          • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
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            1 day ago

            Neither side has any interest in the well-being and prosperity of the people living in those regions, I just want the war to stop. Same position I’ve held since 2022 when the lines were mostly where they are, and the peace deal was mostly where it is, but millions were still in their homes and hundreds of thousands still alive.

            • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              The war ends when Russia respects Ukraine’s original post USSR fracturing boarders agreement because Ukraine had something like 80% of the USSR’s nukes. You want the war to end. STFU.

              • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
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                1 day ago

                Russia will never agree to that, so you’re just advocating every last Ukrainian be sent to die in a meat grinder? Maybe if you send the Poles, Germans, and French to die too, Russia will run out of manpower and then you can have your borders.

                • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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                  1 day ago

                  Lol what do you mean? Russia already agreed to that back in the 90s. They are breaking their promises now. What makes you think they’ll honor any new agreement? It’s completely nonsensical. You know Putin wants all of Ukraine as a buffer region, and is still going off USSR brain.

                  • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
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                    1 day ago

                    From 1990 to 2014, Ukraine was a bufferzone/Russian puppet. After 2014, it became a US puppet.

                    Russia assumed:

                    1. they could restore the previous status quo in about 2 weeks, by driving directly to Kiev, in a straight line (lmao)

                    2. An EU-alligned Ukraine would eventually join NATO, putting hostile troops like 100 miles from Moscow.

                    The calculus will look very different after

                    1. the war showed their military and economy are still weaker than they were in 1990

                    2. There is not a hostile state about to be backed by NATO right on their border.

    • tawaken@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The vast majority regions that Russia currently occupied/demanding were overwhelmingly pro-Ukrainian (opposing to Russian aggression) before the invasion. Or are you referring the annexation referendum or some vote results made under occupation by foreign military force? If you brutally invade a neighboring country and force its people to make an annexation referendum at gunpoint, surely the result will favor you, and you can invade other countries wherever you want like that.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The 2014 elections were actually pretty close in those areas. A month later the Russians invaded the Donbas though so there wasn’t any chance to be pro-Ukrainian after that. And then there’s the fact that people tend to not like like invading armies. I’m pretty sure anyone still in the area isn’t a fan of the people shelling them every day.

      Also, it’s not a wasteland, it’s actually a pretty strategic area.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        1 day ago

        in 2014, the ukrainian govt was a pro-russian pm, he fled after the people revolted against him. oh one of trumps former cabinet was working with russia/ukraine at the time too.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Yup and then they held snap elections right after. Russia was sore that Ukraine actually supported the pro-EU party and invaded Donbas under the fiction that it was a locally led and staffed rebellion against Kyiv. But there wasn’t enough local support for a rebellion.

    • PKscope@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      So the U.S should give up Texas every time they get a hair up their ass and holler to secede?

      C’mon dude. Be real.

      • unphazed@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Honestly? I say if Texas voted, let 'em go. Let Abbot even be the Confederate President, then wait until Mexico shows their displeasure.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Wrong, everyone pro Russian stayed or moved to the occupied Donbass area in 2014