KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine has a clear understanding that any plan to end the war with Russia should be based on international law and the peace should be fair, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Tuesday.
Commenting on a peace plan for Ukraine presented by two key advisers to former U.S. president Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election in November, Podolyak told Reuters that the war could not end without bringing Russia to account.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the advisers presented Trump with a plan to end the war in Ukraine- if he wins the presidential election – that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more U.S. weapons if it enters into peace talks.
Podolyak said that to freeze the war, which is now in its 28th month, at the current frontlines would be “strange” as Russia had violated international law and was on Ukrainian territory.
“Ukraine has an absolutely clear understanding and it is spelled out in the peace formula proposed by President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy, it is clearly stated there – peace can only be fair and peace can only be based on international law,” he said in an online interview.
Podolyak also reiterated the Ukrainian position, dismissing ceasefire conditions announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin as absurd. Putin has said Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv agreed to hand over the entirety of four regions in the east and south claimed by Moscow.
“We see Putin’s plan – it is absolutely ridiculous,” Podolyak said.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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