Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha commented on Vladimir Putin’s rejection of the initiative for direct negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, noting that Zelenskyy had missed "the chance to get out of this disastrous war."
“By refusing President Zelenskyy’s offer for direct peace talks, Putin lost his chance to get out of his failed war. Things will only get worse for Russia. Battlefield losses will continue to grow. Failures will get more humiliating. The economy will plunge deeper into recession. More jobs will be lost, taxes will be growing, and inflation will hit those most vulnerable. There are already no safe places in Russia that can be exempt from Ukraine’s long-range sanctions. But their intensity will continue to grow,” he said on X.
Sybiha recalled the increased international pressure on Moscow due to its refusal to cease aggression.
“The international pressure will not ease. It will only get stronger. Including the use of frozen assets, travel bans, and inevitable accountability for crimes. All of this because the fanatic in the Kremlin wants to keep in power at any cost and is ready to sacrifice his country’s future and kill millions of people for his insane delusions. All of this because he doesn’t want to admit a simple truth: he will never achieve his goals on the battlefield and he better abandon his delusional hopes of Ukraine collapsing soon, support from its partners waning, or pressure on Russia easing,” the minister added.
He warned that Russia would still have to agree to a diplomatic settlement, but the conditions would be much worse.
“Putin’s refusal of peace should lead to a significant increase in international pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine,” Sybiha summed up.
