Podoliak comments on talks with Russians: stereotypes are hard to break

Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President, Mykhailo Podoliak, said that online talks continue every day and Ukraine does not make concessions on issues of territorial integrity

This was stated by Mykhailo Podoliak, who is taking part in the talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on peace, in an interview with the BBC.

As he noted, online negotiations are ongoing.

"There are many controversial issues because the president has clearly stated his position on territorial integrity, fundamental security guarantees.

The structure of the negotiations is really complicated. There is a negotiating team that everyone knows, and there are many groups that work in different formats. From our side, this is Andrii Yermak, who works with political advisers from other countries, who can be guarantor countries…

There are also advisory groups that analyze how this will be perceived by Ukrainian society," Podoliak said.

The adviser also stressed that there was an agreement between the delegations not to discuss the development of the "document" until a compromise position is agreed, which can be made public.

According to him, "the Russian side often throws in some of its stories" to create psychological pressure on the Ukrainian side and provoke conflict in Ukrainian society.

"There is the position of Russia; it is propaganda, they drove themselves into an illusion of how the world is built. And there is the position of Ukraine, which was publicly voiced by President Zelenskyy: territorial integrity and sovereignty are key values ​​for us.

As for the negotiation process itself, that is why it continues to find out where we can and what we can agree on. If we can't agree, we will say so.

But so far the negotiation process is ongoing and any careless word that will be said… It's a very difficult process. And now saying some words for the sake of hype is bad, wrong.

"I don't see any sense in speaking out Russia's position. They can say anything. This is their position. The issue is our position, and our position is defended on the battlefields. Ukraine is not making any concessions, because this is our freedom and our integrity," Podoliak emphasized

Podoliak added that he didn't know what Russia was ready for.

"It is very difficult for them to break the stereotypes in which they have lived for 8 years. Based on this propaganda illusion, they made their fatal decisions and still can not say to themselves: we were wrong.

It is difficult, it affects the negotiation process because the real world needs to be assessed more adequately and more pragmatically," said the adviser to the Head of the OPU.

"I will not say that they finally understand who and where they are, but it allows us to more or less have a dialogue," Podoliak summed up.