Volodymyr Zelensky, in the next phase of talks to end the war in Ukraine, intends to draw a red line at the most contentious issue on the table: the Russian demand for Ukraine’s sovereign territory. As long as he remains the nation’s president, Zelensky will not agree to give up land in exchange for peace, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Andriy Yermak, told me today in an exclusive interview.

“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” said Yermak, who has served as Zelensky’s chief of staff, lead negotiator, and closest aide throughout the full-scale war with Russia.

“As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” he told me by telephone from Kyiv. “The constitution prohibits this. Nobody can do that unless they want to go against the Ukrainian constitution and the Ukrainian people.”

https://archive.ph/HaMwP

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I don’t know how much it would encourage Putin to invade again.

      It’s not like he invaded part of Ukraine and was allowed to keep the annexed territory in the name of peace, then 8 years later invaded again, right?

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
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      3 months ago

      That’s exactly how they ended up in a situation. Putin took Crimea with basically no resistance. He just didn’t count on Zelensky. Most other leaders would have given in to the pressure and let Putin overrun Ukraine (for a nice golden parachute).

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    Don’t give up a single meter of land

    Require reparations from Russia

    Demand all children back

    Demand a formal apology for the pain and suffering caused

    Demand Putin in jail through the ICC

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Don’t give up a single meter of land

      By doing what?

      A little tired of hearing this endless “well, if I were Ukraine, I would simply win the war and claim a trillion dollars in reparations and make Russia disappear off the map” Internet wish casting.

      What do you do to extract any of these concessions that hasn’t already been tried? And how many more people are you willing to throw into the meat grinder trying?

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        When you post about Ukraine on reddit you get conservative white Americans who have bought the propaganda and think strong, proud, masculine Putin is saving Ukrainian orphans from nazis, and have a mountain of arguments why we shouldn’t fund wars overseas unless it’s Israel, Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan. Or Venezuela of course.

        You post about Ukraine on Lemmy and suddenly every tankie hiding in the shadows can’t take the pressure anymore and HAVE to pile out to whinge about how unwinnable the war is, and that it’s useless to resist a tyrant and invader because something something 21st century capitalism and oil economies and nothing will even change under Putin’s rule anyway so why are we even so worked up and on and on.

        I feel bad for Ukrainian people having to endure not just a hostile invasion but scorn and skepticism from the whole world because some people have such loose, soupy brains that they have invent entire straw-universes to validate the erections they get thinking Putin’s bare chest.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          every tankie hiding in the shadows can’t take the pressure anymore and HAVE to pile out to whinge about how unwinnable the war is

          Being a Tankie is when you don’t want to fight a war? But being a conservative is when you do want to fight a war? And they’re both on the same side?

          I feel bad for Ukrainian people having to endure not just a hostile invasion but scorn and skepticism

          I feel bad for anyone trapped in a warzone and treated like fodder for the war machines.

          But I’ve got no pity for the cheerleaders on the sidelines eager to trade human bodies for rhetorical points.

          • ameancow@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            eager to trade human bodies for rhetorical points.

            There are a lot of people who have sacrificed their lives to defend their homes from invaders. A lot of people would say that’s about as noble of a goal as you can fight for and pretty fucking far from “rhetoric” when it’s a hostile army burning your homes and raping your daughters but hey, yah lets keep saying what’s best for the country and what we need to “give up” to get peace.

            Don’t bother replying unless you want to keep showboating for others.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              There are a lot of people who have sacrificed their lives to defend their homes from invaders.

              That’s not some kind of virtue. Make the other fucker die for theirs, etc.

              But once you’re dead, it’s not your land anymore. Telling tens of thousands of additional Ukrainians to die so the state can auction off a dead guy’s property to Jared Kushner’s holding company is fucked.

              Don’t bother replying unless you want to keep showboating for others.

              🚢

      • mean_bean279@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It’s not our decision to make how many people Ukraine is willing to sacrifice for their land. That’s THEIR decision.

        The better question here is how many people is Russia willing to sacrifice for a war of conquest that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          It’s not our decision to make how many people Ukraine is willing to sacrifice

          It clearly is, or you wouldn’t be telling them the terms for peace.

          The better question here is how many people is Russia willing to sacrifice

          They’re not the ones negotiating loss of territory. You gotta quit this “Well I’m rubber and your glue” line of reasoning.

      • derg@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It’s Zelensky that says it, rumor has it Ukraine won’t give up land in exchange for peace

      • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        “How many people are you willing to throw into the meat grinder”

        Yes us lemmy posters are all high ranking Ukrainian officials. Our moral inputs into this site dictate outcomes on the battle field and our opinions hold us accomplice to the slaughter. Putin is not responsible at all; it’s the people posting on the internet!

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          Yes us lemmy posters are all high ranking Ukrainian officials.

          101st chairborne, to be sure. Tons of folks seem to think this war is a team sport that you just cheer at from the sidelines.

  • Gary Ghost@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Russia will come back and take it all, don’t give them an edge. Trump will be on TV whining how Ukraine rejected his really good peace offering.

  • FinishingDutch@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    You don’t reward a thief and murderer, you shoot them between the eyes. As a Dutchman, I wholeheartedly support shooting every uniformed Russian or allied you can find. Twice.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      In all fairness, I think kost Russian soldiers aren’t there by much choice, Putin loves his meat grinder and has pulled well over a million Russians through it.

      Yes, that is a problem that Russians should fix themselves, but still. Any soldiers surrendering should be treated well. Show them they’ve really been figuring on the wrong side

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      You don’t reward a thief and murderer

      We literally do and we do it regularly.

      At this point, telling Russia to give the land back might as well be a land acknowledgement you read in between demanding Florida to back to the Cherokee and telling the Normans to leave England.

      I wholeheartedly support shooting every uniformen Russian or allied you can find.

      Well, quit wasting your time. Get down to Ukraine and win the war, then.