Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said Kyiv is ready to negotiate with Moscow over the war Vladimir Putin started, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
During a visit to Guangzhou where he held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Kuleba stated that Ukraine “is prepared for dialogue and negotiations” with Moscow, according to the Chinese foreign ministry account of the meeting.
“The negotiations should be rational and substantive, aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace,” the Chinese foreign ministry added, according to a translation.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a statement which said that Kuleba had meant Ukraine was ready for dialogue when Russia is ready to negotiate in good faith but stressed that currently there is no such readiness by Moscow.
Quoting him directly, the foreign ministry cited Kuleba as saying, “Russian aggression has destroyed peace and slowed down development,” according to a translation. He added that it was necessary “to end the war against Ukraine, restore peace and accelerate the restoration of our state.”
Kuleba is the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to travel to China since President Putin’s full-scale invasion started in February 2022.
Officially neutral on the war, China has provided diplomatic and economic cover for Putin, increasing its trade and connections with Russia greatly over the last two and a half years.
The prospect of talks to end the war started by Putin has been gaining momentum, with Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky saying last week that Russian representatives should attend a planned peace summit in November.
While Zelensky has rejected talks with Putin, he said if Moscow were ready to discuss a plan “and agree on ending the war, in accordance with the U.N. Charter, then we will be ready to speak.”
It comes as a poll released yesterday by the Kyiv International Institute for Sociology (KIIS) showed a rise in support among Ukrainians for territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for peace.
It found that in May a third (32 percent) of Ukrainians accepted ceding territory compared with 26 percent in February and 9 percent 12 months earlier, although there are numerous sticking points in how to end a war now two and a half years old.
“Despite ongoing tensions, Crimea remains a significant impediment to peace, with Putin steadfastly viewing it as ‘a jewel in the crown’ of Russia,” Viktor Kovalenko, an analyst on Ukraine and Russia and former Ukrainian soldier.
“It is also the ancestral land of the Crimean Tatars, and Zelensky’s government has little room to negotiate its cession,” he told Newsweek. “Furthermore, Ukraine needs the peninsula. The withdrawal of the Russian Navy and Air Force from Crimea would bolster the security of Ukraine’s grain trade in the Black Sea.”
The KIIS poll also found that over half (55 percent) of respondents still opposed giving up territory to Russia to end the war, although this was down from 74 percent in December 2023.
By Brendan Cole | Newsweek
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