Is real ceasefire with Russia possible anytime soon? Ukrainian combat veteran weighs in

He expressed this opinion in a blog for UNIAN.

According to Dykyi, the Kremlin has not abandoned its intentions to seize new territories in Ukraine.

“Can the discussed ceasefire somehow influence all this? I’m skeptical. The Russian-American and our positions regarding conditions for a ceasefire are diametrically different; they do not intersect at all,” he stated.

The ATO veteran believes Russia seeks Ukraine’s surrender, and all the conditions it sets for a ceasefire are entirely unacceptable.

“Russia advocates for taking a temporary pause (we understand very clearly this would indeed be temporary) to regroup its army and accumulate weapons and ammunition reserves. In exchange, they want everything: lifting sanctions, refusing any reparations or compensation for damages to Ukraine, and so on. But crucially, they want terms that essentially amount to our surrender. Ukraine would lose any international security guarantees, never join NATO, reduce its army, and so forth. So far, the Russians have not even withdrawn their demand for us to surrender four regions, including areas they failed to conquer militarily (even without this, the rest of the Russian demands are utterly unacceptable for us),” Dykyi wrote.

“From a military standpoint, we have no reason to accept such surrender — we haven’t lost this war. Given such fundamental differences in the parties’ visions, I don’t think we’ll have a real ceasefire in the coming months. We also see further developments differently from the Russians,” he added.

• On March 25, the United States reached separate agreements with Ukraine and Russia to cease attacks at sea and on energy facilities. The U.S. also agreed to assist in lifting certain Western sanctions, particularly restrictions related to Russian food, fertilizers, and maritime transport.
• On March 26, the EU stated sanctions against Russia could be lifted if all troops were withdrawn from Ukraine.
• However, Finnish President Alexander Stubb expressed his conviction that sanctions against Russia should be strengthened, not lifted.