These are days of intense diplomatic work for Ukraine. The Kyiv delegation – led by former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in place of Andriy Yermak, the former right-hand man of President Zelensky overwhelmed by the maxi-corruption scandal – met the US delegation in Florida, to discuss various points of a draft peace plan which has many issues to resolve, starting from the question of occupied territories and the definition of borders, a theme on which the summit in Miami focused. Zelensky went to Paris todayi for a bilateral meeting with French President Macron. While US special envoy Steve Witkoff is about to fly to Moscow. Meanwhile, Russia continues to attack Ukraine, especially the capital, where the latest raids with missiles and drones have hit residential buildings and caused victims and injuries. Days ago the Kremlin issued a warning to Kyiv: there will only be a ceasefire if the Ukrainians withdraw from Donbas.
«When I saw the text of the so-called 28-point peace plan it was immediately clear: it is not an American peace plan, but a list of Russian “wishes”. I immediately told my colleagues: there is no point in commenting on the “peace plan”, because there is no plan. In this form, Ukraine will never accept.” Commenting is Boris ZakharovUkrainian human rights activist originally from Kharkiv, director of the philanthropic foundation Human & law, as well as former director ofadvocacy center of theUkrainian Helsinki human rights union. «In reality, it is yet another shame for Trump and his administration. It seems that they are not only legal nihilists, but that they completely lack historical sensitivity and moral imperatives. They flounder in the waves of information, unable to distinguish good from evil, the aggressor from the victim, rights and freedoms from “interests”.
Zakharov explains: «When the peace formulas include the legalization of annexations, the limitation of Ukraine’s right to defend itself or choose its allies, this is not peace, it is capitulation. For Ukraine it is unacceptable. And even if the Ukrainian government tried to accept such an agreement, society would not accept it. First, for moral reasons. Second, for rational reasons. Ukraine cannot accept a model in which its sovereignty is substantially limited. The Russians are not at all reliable, and such an agreement would only postpone “the final solution of the Ukrainian question”. Yes, that’s not a slip of the tongue. Putin wants to destroy not only the Ukrainian state, but the Ukrainian people and identity.”
The “Russian world” – states the activist, recalling the doctrine of russkiy mir (Russian world), i.e. Moscow’s sphere of influence at the basis of Russian imperialism – will only stop where it is stopped. «The only guarantee of peace is a strong and well-armed Ukrainian army. Unfortunately, at this moment Ukraine cannot liberate the territories occupied by military forces. Perhaps the conditions for de-occupation will be created in the course of the war, if Allied support becomes much more widespread. But it is clear that this is not possible now. Therefore, Ukraine accepts the European model of the peace plan, which preserves Ukrainian sovereignty, but declares the impossibility of re-establishing territorial integrity with military force.”
Putin, however, will not accept any plan, Zakharov states with conviction. «He will continue the war in a maniacal way, dragging Russia into the abyss and sending huge numbers of his fellow countrymen to slaughter, while at the same time destroying Ukraine and continuing to kill Ukrainian civilians.”
However, the activist continues, «any peace negotiation is an open window on the opportunity to free our prisoners of war and detained civilians whom Putin holds hostage. That is why we welcome the fact that there are negotiations. These are unlikely to lead to peace. But the possibility of freeing thousands of people who are held in inhumane conditions and tortured is real.”
During the negotiations, political tasks arise for Ukraine: maintaining allies, increasing their support, intensifying pressure on Russia. And humanitarian tasks: to carry out a large exchange of prisoners, to release Ukrainian civilian detainees, to return forcibly deported children. Putin has an inexhaustible resource to feed the new “Russian Gulag” at the expense of the inhabitants of the occupied territories. Our people live there in the total absence of rights. Anyone can be kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured or killed. This is why we must do everything possible to retake Ukrainian territory and restore justice.”
