Political analyst Musienko assesses Lavrov's statements on negotiations

He said this on the Espreso TV channel.

Musienko responded to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement about the start of peace talks where the aggressor country would not cease hostilities: "We've been through this before, remember Debaltseve, when negotiations were held in Minsk in 2015. It was the same thing, as if there were negotiations, then what kind of fighting, and Russia was actively attacking and trying to surround the Ukrainian grouping. The enemy's tactics have not changed at all, meaning that even if they were talking about some kind of negotiations, they would still be attacking, still pressing."

In his opinion, Russia is talking about negotiations because they feel they have the upper hand on the battlefield.

"Now they are trying to talk about it from the position of the strong, as they believe in Russia, but if they are stopped, if this offensive is repelled, and if we talk about some local counterattacks, then Russia is no longer from the position of the strong here. And if it talks about negotiations, it means that Russia is disappointed with the unsuccessful offensive, they have made sure that they cannot capture Kharkiv, and therefore they are ready for negotiations. They obviously cannot and will not allow this to happen. That's why the situation is still such that the initiative in the offensive is with the Russian troops," explained the director of the Military and Strategic Research Centre.

Musienko believes that the issue is also about the global context. Amid preparations for the peace summit, French President Emmanuel Macron insists on an Olympic truce, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after visiting Xi Jinping that China is also allegedly in favor of peace.

"Of course, Russia wants to seize some initiative so that no attention is drawn to the summit in Switzerland dedicated to the Ukrainian peace formula, and, let's say, change the context, say: no, this is complete nonsense, let's be here with Beijing, maybe Germany, France, and offer another formula, or there are Turkish plans that the media have been writing about," he added.

What preceded it

On February 26, Switzerland announced its intention to hold a summit on peace in Ukraine by the summer. The Kremlin said that organizing such an event without Russia was "not serious and even ridiculous."

On March 18, Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Wang Shihting said that China was considering participating in a peace summit organized by Switzerland at Ukraine's request. On April 8, the media reported that Switzerland was planning to hold a peace summit in mid-June. Up to a hundred countries are expected to participate in this conference.

Switzerland will host the Global Peace Summit on June 15-16 at Ukraine's request. However, the full list of participants has not yet been made public.

April 19 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that Russia will not cease fire even if negotiations with Ukraine begin.