Ukraine's foreign minister: Ukraine-Russia talks with no preconditions 'already a victory'
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said “we will not give up a single inch of our territory” ahead of talks agreed between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations.
Russia initially said it did not want talks, then said it wanted talks with conditions. Now, after a series of military setbacks that some observers say may have shocked Russian president Vladimir Putin, the conditions have been dropped – which Kuleba said was “already a victory”.
One element of the talks, Kuleba said, are that Belarus agreed it would not use military force against Ukraine “between now and the moment that the talks wrap up”.
Kuleba struck an optimistic tone during the briefing on Sunday, assuring reporters “we will prevail, I’m absolutely confident in that.”
“This is a war between president Putin and the people of Ukraine,” he said, adding: “We are determined to defeat Russia, the same way we defeated the previous monster in Europe 80 years ago.”
He urged allies to provide more military supplies in the battle against Russia.
Kuleba, responding to questions about nuclear attacks, said that if Ukraine was attacked with nuclear weapons it would be “a catastrophe”, but said it would not break the Ukrainian spirit. He said Putin’s order to put nuclear deterrence on high alert was a strategy to raise the stakes ahead of the talks.
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