Russia attempts to push for peace talks on its own terms - military expert

Oleksandr Kovalenko, military and political observer, analyzed Russia's reaction to Dmytro Kuleba's visit to China.

“The phrase 'Ukraine is ready for negotiations with Russia,' taken out of context, continues to spread across the web. An important addition to the quote: '...the Russian side's readiness to negotiate in good faith has not yet been observed,'“ political observer noted.

According to him, it is noteworthy that the Chinese side has consistently supported Ukraine's territorial integrity and has never expressed support for recognizing the occupied territories as Russian.

“What is important is that Russia is trying in every possible way to push the topic of peace talks on its own terms. To maintain and spread this narrative, it resorts to primitive manipulation, as it always does. In this case, its manipulation revolves around the fiction that Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia,“ Kovalenko stated. 

He believes that negotiations with Russia will be conducted exclusively on Ukraine's terms, with an unwavering position on restoring the country's integrity within its 1991 borders.

“Therefore, Russia has only one thing to do - to take the words of Volodymyr Zelenskyy or Dmytro Kuleba out of context and build its crystal castles on them. However, these manipulations will not impact the actual process,“ Kovalenko concluded.

• On July 24, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during his visit to Guangzhou.