Kiev has no intention of ceasing hostilities with Moscow anywhere along the current front line, contrary to what the German tabloid Bild would have its readers believe, a communications adviser to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has stated. Dmitry Litvin also stressed the importance of US support for Kiev’s “victory plan,” as its success very much depends on Washington’s generosity.
On Saturday, Bild claimed that Zelensky plans to travel to the US in the coming weeks to present his revised strategy to President Joe Biden as well as to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump. According to the report, the main points include a “demand to be allowed to deploy Western long-range weapons deep inside Russia, as well as Ukraine’s readiness to accept local ceasefires along certain portions of the front, and thus a provisional freezing of the situation.”
Speaking to Ukraine’s LIGA.net media outlet later that same day, Litvin insisted that “Bild has spread a fake.”
“Bild did not see the victory plan and, of the few people currently involved… in the preparation of the victory plan, none of them spoke to Bild,” Zelensky’s adviser added.
The official emphasized that Ukraine is against any freezing of the hostilities with Russia, with authorities in Kiev not willing to sign up to a “Minsk-3” – an apparent reference to the two agreements signed in 2014 and 2015 by Ukraine and the breakaway Donbass and Lugansk People’s Republics.
In December 2022, former Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President Francois Hollande, who led Germany and France respectively and helped broker the accords, admitted that the negotiations and agreements were nothing but a ruse to help Ukraine buy time and prepare for a future conflict with Russia.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous European diplomats, reported that Kiev’s backers had unofficially urged Ukraine to “come up with a more realistic plan” as its current maximalist goals would cost just way too much to the West.
Since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Zelensky has publicly insisted on the restoration of Ukraine’s 1991 borders, which would include Crimea. Moscow, in turn, has called on Kiev to accept the “reality on the ground.”
Back in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed an immediate ceasefire on the condition that Ukraine commit to eschewing its NATO aspirations, and withdraw its troops from all territories claimed by Russia. Kiev and its Western backers dismissed the roadmap as an ultimatum out of hand.