Davyd Arakhamiia, a prime advisor to Ukrainian chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the chief of the Servant of the People faction, mentioned the Russian delegation on the 2022 negotiations in Istanbul had promised Kyiv peace in return for neutrality.
“The war could have ended in the spring of 2022 if Ukraine had agreed to neutrality,” Arakhamia, who led the Ukrainian delegation, advised Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 on Friday.
“Russia’s goal was to put pressure on us so that we would be neutral. This was the main thing for them: They were ready to end the war if we accepted neutrality, like Finland once did. And for us to make a commitment that we will not join NATO. This is the main thing,” he added.
In reply to why Ukraine didn’t comply with the proposal, Arakhamia mentioned: “Firstly, it was necessary to change the Constitution, and secondly, there was no trust in the Russians that they will do this.”
“Further, after we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson visited Kyiv and said that we should not sign anything with the Russians and ‘let’s just fight.'”
Attempts at peace negotiations began shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Several rounds of negotiations came about, together with in Türkiye throughout which then Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu acted as mediator.
Toward the top of March, it regarded like a deal had been negotiated and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mentioned Ukraine was able to comply with 4 out of Russia’s six calls for.
It was after the ultimate rounds of negotiations that then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a shock go to to Ukraine, pushing again in opposition to the peace deal.
Johnson’s go to got here amid extreme political turbulence within the U.Okay. on account of a number of police investigations in opposition to him, over which he finally needed to resign as Prime Minister.
During his go to to Ukraine, Johnson mentioned: “Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with,” and three days after Johnson left Kyiv, Putin acknowledged publicly that talks with Ukraine “had turned into a dead end.”
Having failed a diplomatic decision, the struggle continued. The New York Times reported in August 2023 that the full variety of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded for the reason that struggle in Ukraine is nearing 500,000.
The current statements from Arakhamia comes amid a change of rhetoric’s from each Ukrainian and Western officers, probably signalling that an finish to the battle may very well be in sight.
After Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed to achieve the expectations of each Ukrainians and their Western allies, earlier this month Ukraine’s Commander-in-chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny gave an interview to the Economist, saying that the struggle was at a stalemate.
Recent developments recommend that U.S. and European officers have now began chatting with the Ukrainian authorities about what doable peace negotiations with Russia would possibly entail to finish the struggle.
Source: www.dailysabah.com