By delaying the settlement of relations with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky risks losing large areas of the country. This was announced on Saturday, May 28, by Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov.
Accordingly, he commented on Zelensky’s sharp reaction to the statement of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about the need for Kyiv to abandon the Donbass, as well as the idea to return the Crimea.
“His (Zelensky. – Ed.) fighting enthusiasm does not look very appropriate against the backdrop of a steady retreat of Ukrainian troops. And unlike Kissinger, Zelensky clearly does not understand or acts out a misunderstanding that by postponing the settlement, Ukraine risks losing much more than Crimea and the DPR-LPR,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.
The senator also questioned the possibility of “negotiating with the public”, which included the former US Secretary of State on the “Peacemaker” list for his “very realistic assessment of the state of affairs.”
Earlier, on May 24, Kissinger, during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, called on the West to abandon attempts to achieve a military defeat of Russia and outlined the need to persuade Kyiv to return to negotiations.
In addition, the ex-secretary of state said that the achievement of a neutral status for Ukraine and its establishment as a bridge between Russia and Europe would be the ideal result of resolving the situation.
At the same time, Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, called Henry Kissinger a “Davos alarmist” because of his statements.
Later it became known that Henry Kissinger got into the database of the Ukrainian resource “Peacemaker”. It was clarified that he was charged with “participation in Russia’s special information operation against Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the proposal of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, noted that Russia is waiting for Ukraine to accept the demands put forward for peace talks. He stressed that these are not territorial concessions.
In turn, the vice speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Kosachev, said that in the new reality, the West is increasingly beginning to understand the impossibility of ignoring, let alone “cancelling” Russia.
Prior to this, on May 13, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv would never recognize the autonomy of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as the Russian ownership of Crimea.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. A few days earlier, the situation in the region escalated significantly due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. The authorities of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics announced the evacuation of residents to the Russian Federation, and also turned to Moscow for help. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the DNR and LNR.