Volodymyr Zelensky, in the next phase of talks to end the war in Ukraine, intends to draw a red line at the most contentious issue on the table: the Russian demand for Ukraine’s sovereign territory. As long as he remains the nation’s president, Zelensky will not agree to give up land in exchange for peace, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Andriy Yermak, told me today in an exclusive interview.
“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” said Yermak, who has served as Zelensky’s chief of staff, lead negotiator, and closest aide throughout the full-scale war with Russia.
“As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory,” he told me by telephone from Kyiv. “The constitution prohibits this. Nobody can do that unless they want to go against the Ukrainian constitution and the Ukrainian people.”
there was barely resistance during obama when he took crimea, he was hoping biden was the same. his micalculated, covid helped indirectly, because everyone was basically home and paying attention to the news.
More specifically he underestimated the preparation of Ukrainian soldiers, notably the fact that NATO instructors came to share their training and tactics and help to prepare for the next war. He was well aware of it though, he used that as an argument that Ukraine was about to join NATO.