"If we reward Putin for his aggression, our future will be jeopardized" – Ukraine's FM
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said that voices from across the world urging negotiations between Ukraine and Russia ignore the fact that Russia has failed to demonstrate it is prepared for true peace, Die Welt reports.
Kuleba stressed that Russia is continuing to carry out brutal attacks on Ukrainian cities and villages so as to kill more people and capture more Ukrainian territory.
This, he wrote, does not indicate a desire for negotiations, for putting an end to aggression, and for restoring peace in Ukraine.
There is no country in the whole world that wants peace more than Ukraine. But we also know that true peace must be just and sustainable.
Neither Ukraine nor the rest of the world will see true peace unless Russia bears full responsibility for all its crimes, including the crime of aggression against Ukraine and all of the consequent war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, Kuleba said.
He said that the future of European and Atlantic security was being decided on the battlefields in Ukraine.
If we make a mistake now and decide to reward Putin for his aggression, whatever form this takes, instead of defeating him to teach a lesson to all other potential aggressors, then the future of Ukraine, Europe and the whole world will be jeopardized, Kuleba believes.
True peace is restoring the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, making a safe homeland for the Crimean Tatar people and grain carriers instead of warships in the Black Sea, the minister adds.
True peace is the world united by the rule of international law. This is what we fight for – not just for a victory in this war, but for true, sustainable peace, Kuleba stressed.
