Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said that Ukraine did not refuse negotiations with Russia, but did not agree to “ultimate demands from the Russian side” or “any unacceptable conditions.”
“Ukraine, of course, did not refuse negotiations. But precisely from negotiations, which, by the way, have not happened yet. Ukraine and President Zelensky categorically renounces any unacceptable conditions or ultimatum demands from the Russian side. We have carefully worked out our negotiating positions. In addition, I want to emphasize separately that there was absolutely no order from Mr. Putin to suspend the offensive. This is casuistry. On the contrary, it was last night and throughout the night/morning of today that we saw only the intensification of the aggressive actions of the Russian side. We consider this escalation a straightforward attempt to push Ukraine towards accepting unacceptable conditions. President Zelensky is only for negotiations and categorically does not accept any ultimatums, ”the office of the President of Ukraine says in a statement (Kommersant has it).
Former press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov declaredthat Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to suspend the operation in Ukraine due to the expectation of negotiations with Kiev, but the Ukrainian side refused to talk.
On February 25, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Vladimir Putin with a proposal to “sit down at the negotiating table in order to stop the death of people.” Then, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Kyiv refused to negotiate and offered to discuss the issue today, February 26. The office of the Ukrainian president denies the refusal to negotiate with Russia.
