OLENA ROSHCHINA – FRIDAY, 29 APRIL 2022, 11:28 Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President’s Office, believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Volodymyr Putin will meet later, but “this is not the time” for them to talk.. Source: Mykhailo Podoliak in an interview with Radio Svoboda Quote: “I do not see that now it can be done tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, as Turkey says … Unfortunately, we will have to wait a bit. This is still not the time for negotiations between the two presidents. A little later, probably, it will [happen]. But we want Ukraine’s position in these negotiations to be very, very strong. We just have a strong-willed president: that is, he wants to come to the talks and behave the way he should behave – as a leader of a truly global plan. And he should have a very strong legal position. We have to prepare this.” Details: Podoliak said that “the negotiation process is slower” because since the Istanbul Communiqué Russia’s war crimes in Ukrainian cities had come to light, and also because of the desire of the Russians to strengthen their position. “In the Russian Federation – no matter what they say – there are still enough resources to conduct active hostilities in the east of the country. And they want to gain some tactical victories to show that they know how to fight, so as to make others afraid of them,” said Andriy Yermak’s adviser. “So far, I don’t see a reason for a face-to-face meeting,” Podoliak added. According to him, the agreement between Ukraine and Russia “will prescribe the logic of withdrawal from the war: a ceasefire throughout Ukraine, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the exchange of prisoners of war.” “That is, there should be all the conditions of how the countries come out of the war,” Podoliak added. He explained that “there will no longer be any ‘treaty of friendship and peace”, but we need to set up positions that will be red lines for Russia, so that this country will never be able to enter Ukraine again.” Background: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after eight years of hybrid warfare, also told international partners who were trying to talk to them that it was not time to meet with the Ukrainian president. Meanwhile, fighting continues in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Russian occupiers are abducting people, replacing legitimate government office holders with collaborators, and are preparing to introduce rubles in the occupied territories. According to the Russian military command, the Kremlin seeks to seize the entire east and south of Ukraine in order to have a land route to occupied Crimea (Ukraine) and occupied Transnistria (Moldova).
