Yermak said when “real negotiations” on peace with Russia will begin

Peace negotiations with Russia will become possible only when “Moscow does not have the resources to continue the war”, said the head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak during the meeting of the Congress of local and regional authorities in Lviv.

“Once again, I emphasize that only the strong are helped, so we must remain strong. Real negotiations on permanent peace will begin only when the enemy does not have the resources to continue the war, so there is an incredibly big job ahead,” said Yermak.

The head of the OP reminded that on October 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi presented a “victory plan”, which fixed Ukraine’s position and “outlined the real mechanisms of ending the war and achieving a just peace”.

He noted that “citizens of Ukraine convey to society the Ukrainian vision of ending the war and achieving a just peace.” According to Yermak, “numerous foreign visits of Ukrainian delegations from the regions contribute to this. After all, during them, partners at local levels familiarize themselves with the victory plan.”

“The situation remains difficult… Our enemy wants the war not to end, he wants our surrender, ours and our allies’ surrender. If Russia is not forced to a just peace, then there will be no peace. There will be a pause, and Moscow will use this pause to regain strength and continue the offensive,” Yermak concluded.

Recently, Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the Ukrainian army lacks the strength to liberate some territories temporarily occupied by Russia and that diplomatic solutions should be sought. And before that, in a conversation with Sky News, he allowed the end of the hot phase of the war on the condition that the government-controlled part of the Ukrainian territory will be taken under the NATO umbrella, which will allow him to later agree on the return of the occupied territories “by diplomatic means.”

These words of the President of Ukraine differ from the previous statements of the Ukrainian authorities, which stated that there will be no diplomatic solutions without returning to the borders of 1991.

Instead, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on December 6 that peace in Ukraine is possible only if Ukraine renounces NATO membership and loses part of its territories.