In a strange turn, that conceals intense activity in the diplomatic background is entering the Ukrainian issue and especially Kiev's relations with France and Italy, while these two European countries appear to be seeking a compromise solution to the war, where fighting is raging on the eastern front, with Russian attacks ongoing.
Late Saturday night it was reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke by phone with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, but nothing was announced about the four-point plan the latter has reportedly submitted (or is submitting?) to the UN for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. The existence of the plan has been known since last Wednesday, but no details have been provided by Rome, and Moscow clarified on Friday that it was unaware of anything relevant.
On Twitter, Zelensky tweeted only that he thanked Draghi for his "unconditional support" for Ukraine in its bid to join the European Union and that it was important to impose more sanctions on Russia but also to lift the blockade of Ukrainian ports.
A statement made last night by his adviser and a member of Ukraine's negotiating team in talks with Russia in March, Mikhail Podolyak, is however seen as an indirect response to this plan and especially to the part said to contain about recognition of autonomy in regions such as Crimea, but also Donbass or the Ukrainian south.
Podolyak called "very strange" the calls made by the West for an urgent ceasefire, with Russian forces remaining in the territories they have occupied in southern and eastern Ukraine. "Russian forces must withdraw from the country and then it will be possible to resume the peace process," he stressed, signalling that concessions would backfire on Ukraine because Russia would hit it harder after any break in hostilities. "The war will not stop, there will just be a pause for a while," he added, explaining the impasse of a policy of concessions to Moscow.
As the Ukrainian official noted, "after a while, with renewed ferocity, the Russians will gather weapons, manpower, will see their mistakes, will modernize somewhat, will fire many generals... And will resume a new offensive, bloodier and on a large scale."
Earlier Zelensky had rejected French President Emmanuel Macron's idea of Ukraine joining a "European political community" instead of a rushed accession process to the European Union, as Kiev has persistently demanded and Brussels is considering.
Any alternative to Ukraine's candidacy for European Union membership would constitute a "compromise" with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today in response to the plan proposed by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
"We don't need alternatives to Ukraine's EU candidacy, we don't need such compromises," Zelensky told Macron in a rather stern tone. Categorically rejecting the French proposal, he explained that "it will not be a compromise with Ukraine in Europe, it will be another compromise between Europe and Russia. It is the influence and political and diplomatic pressure exerted by Russian officials and lobbyists on the decision of a European country to support or not to support Ukraine."
It should be noted that Zelensky had stated a week ago that Macron had asked him for Kiev to make territorial concessions to Russia in order to achieve peace, which he rejected. Paris had not confirmed the Ukrainian president's claims at the time.
Source: protothema.gr
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