Nuland refused to answer whether the US considers it possible to restore the integrity of Ukraine
The US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, refrained from answering whether Washington considers such a victory for Ukraine, in which it will return all the occupied territories, possible.
About this andinforms “European truth”.
Nuland noted that the decision on when to start and whether to start peace talks with Russia at all should be Ukraine’s decision.
She noted that now the Russian perception of the format of the negotiations boils down to the fact that “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours – let’s discuss”, so the goal of the United States is to strengthen Ukraine from a military, economic and political point of view, so that it has strong positions, and so that the Kremlin would understand that they will not achieve their goals and think about negotiations.
After that, she was asked if this means that the American strategy no longer includes restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine within the 1991 borders.
Nuland avoided a direct answer, noting that it is currently difficult to predict whether such outlines of Ukraine’s victory are possible.
“All wars end in negotiations, and it is up to Ukraine to decide what its territorial goals are. However, now Kyiv is not strong enough to start negotiations. We want Putin to get out of every square kilometer of Ukrainian land. But until Ukraine has become strong enough, we do not know to what extent this is possible“, answered Victoria Nuland.
She continued that potential future arrangements should be such as to ensure a strong, independent, democratic, economically viable Ukraine, and guarantees are needed that the head of the Kremlin will not return with a new war in some time.
“So half of the package recently approved by Congress is intended for a long-term contribution to the Ukrainian army. So that if a pause does occur, Putin would know: the Armed Forces will only become stronger during this time, and not the other way aroundNuland noted.
“In any case, I do not think that Putin is ready for honest negotiations. He would like to see at the head of Ukraine a leader like (Viktor) Yanukovych, who would be ready to obey the whims of Moscow“, she said.
