Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “failed” to make significant military progress since invading his country on February 24.
“Today, because of the Ukrainian army, because of our soldiers, because of the unity of the Ukrainian people, Putin understands that his idea of a blitzkrieg has failed,” Poroshenko told DW.
“Please leave Ukrainian territory. Withdraw your troops. Stop killing Ukrainians. And that is it. [the] “absolutely a solid basis for trading,” he added.
Direct talks between the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia on Thursday – the first since the start of the war – made little progress towards a ceasefire. However, negotiations remain open.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov categorically dismissed concerns about civilian casualties as nothing more than “sad cries” from Russia’s enemies and criticized Western nations for supplying the “neighborly” territory.
Lavrov also dismissed repeated questions about Wednesday’s bombing of a children’s hospital in the besieged southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, saying it was not a medical facility but a base for the Azov Brigade and “other radicals.”
NATO “defense capabilities” are needed: Poroshenko
The former president said solidarity with the allies was now vital, calling for “Ukraine’s support, not only financially, not only politically, but also in its defense capabilities.”
“Putin has declared war not only on Ukraine, but on the whole West. He has declared war on Germany, against us, against Ukraine, against Europe,” he said.
On Tuesday, Poland proposed sending 28 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via the US air base in Ramstein, Germany.
Both the US and Germany interrupted the idea, saying it would clearly escalate the conflict.
But Poroshenko said the crisis in Ukraine was already a “common war” involving NATO members. “You have to understand, NATO is already at war with Russia and this war was not started by NATO member states, but by Putin,” he told DW.
Fear that Putin “will not stop” in Ukraine
The former president also expressed concern that Putin would not “stop” in Ukraine. “If Ukraine fails, no one knows where tomorrow. [he] he would show up, “he said.
“If Putin now wants to build a land corridor between Crimea and occupied Donbass, why does he not want to build a land corridor from Russia to the Kaliningrad region via Lithuania tomorrow,” he said.
Poroshenko was president of Ukraine between 2014 and 2019, during which he repeatedly negotiated with Putin, from peace talks in Minsk after the annexation of Crimea to the exchange of political prisoners.
“I know Putin very well and I have five years of experience in negotiating with him. I do not trust Putin because when he promised me a ceasefire, the release of hostages, the withdrawal of his troops, he never kept his word.”
js, fh / msh
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