Ukrainian territory concessions may trigger Russian aggression in Baltic states — diplomat

He shared his opinions on Espreso TV.

"The topic of the Munich agreement, Munich blackmail, Munich deal - call it whatever you want - it's impossible in this situation, just like 'Yalta' is impossible, like 'Potsdam' is impossible, all of that has been left behind. Today, the focus is on forming a different response. It’s based on one principle: peace through strength. Because only when Ukraine has strategic and tactical initiative will it be able to make an agreement that meets the three things I mentioned. Any other approach will be no different from what you call the Munich betrayal. It will be exactly the same thing," explained Bezsmertnyi.

The diplomat emphasized that exchanging Ukrainian territories will not appease Russia but will only lead to more aggression - not only against Ukraine, but likely against European countries as well.

"Any trade of territory in this situation will only lead to a pause before a continental and global war. This is what still needs to be explained in Washington and to those currently in Munich. They still don't understand the connection between trading territories and encouraging the aggressor to further occupy countries. It is now absolutely clear from European intelligence that if, God forbid, this territorial exchange happens, there will be further aggressive actions both in Ukraine and in the Baltic republics. This is confirmed by intelligence data from European states," he added.

According to Bezsmertnyi, it is very important to focus on concrete actions rather than statements regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war. He added that we are currently in the first stage of resolving the conflict.

"Therefore, it is clear that what is happening in the information space today should, first, be taken as information, and second, we need to look at what specific steps are being taken. What we talked about four or five times, when I said there was no phone conversation between Trump and Putin - everyone interrupted us, saying, ‘No, they are talking,’” the diplomat emphasized.

Russia-Ukraine talks 

On February 12, U.S. President Donald Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

According to Trump, Putin agreed that both leaders want to "stop the millions of deaths occurring in the Russia-Ukraine war."

During a media briefing at the White House, Trump mentioned that his meeting with Putin will likely take place in Saudi Arabia, though he did not specify a date.

On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump also held a phone conversation. Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his interest in what "we can do together," while the U.S. leader informed his colleague about the details of his conversation with Putin.

Trump stated that his conversation with Zelenskyy "went very well."

On February 13, following Trump's conversation with Putin, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Poland, Italy, the UK, Spain, Ukraine, and the EU issued a joint statement after a meeting in Paris.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas emphasized that any negotiations with Russia must involve Europeans and Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticized European officials, calling their statements "worthless" and commenting on the EU declaration stressing the need for Ukraine and Europe to be part of "any negotiations." Similarly, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico referred to Ukraine and the EU as “losers.”