Kiev is willing to talk to Moscow and make concessions to help secure peace, but it will not compromise on anything it considers to be of “fundamental importance,” Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Britain’s Sky News, Dmitry Kuleba suggested that Kiev would be happy to listen to any “reasonable” demands from Russia.
“We are constructive, and we are ready to make concessions if this is reciprocated by Russia, but we will not be making concessions of issues which are of fundamental importance for the development of the Ukrainian state, such as our European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” Kuleba said, referring in particular to the ambitions of Kiev to become a member state of the European Union and NATO. Accession to NATO has long been a red line for Moscow, which has constantly opposed its eastern expansion.
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“Demands should be reasonable and legitimate. The demand of Russia for Ukraine to abandon its foreign policy is illegitimate,” he continued. “It will only be the people of Ukraine who will be making this choice.”
Kuleba’s interview comes as tensions continue to rise on the Russia-Ukraine border, with Kiev fearing that Moscow seeks to mount a military invasion in the coming months. The Kremlin has consistently denied these allegations.
In the same interview, Kuleba warned that there would be “a lot of dead Russian soldiers” if an invasion happened.
Earlier this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky because he believes relations with Kiev need to be normalized.