There is one NATO ally who forced Russia to ask for peace – diplomat Bryza

Matthew Bryza, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, recalled this on Espreso TV.

"Ukraine must find a way with all of the support from its friends, and future allies to cut off the Russian forces in Crimea from the rest of the occupying Russian forces, and thereby create de facto, very painful military security costs to Russia that force them to sue for peace on terms that you just outlined. There is one NATO ally that has fought Russian forces on the ground in recent years and compelled Putin to seek peace. And that's Turkey. It happened as we've discussed before in northwest Syria and it happened in Libya. So in cases where Putin suffers a serious defeat on the battlefield, he changes direction and that's what must happen now. There's no other answer," he stressed.

According to the diplomat, if the war ends now, Russia will control all the temporarily occupied territories. Matthew Bryza noted that Ukraine should not allow this to happen, but must win with the strong support of the West.

• On 17 May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the grain deal has been extended for two months, and Turkish ships will be able to call at the ports of Mykolaiv and Olvia.