Ukraine FM Kuleba says 'nobody pushing' Ukraine to negotiate with Putin amid ongoing war

Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference [MSc], Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday said that nobody is brokering negotiations on Ukraine's behalf with Russia's President Vladimir Putin for the cessation of hostilities on Ukraine's territories. This is in contrast to the full-scale invasion launched by Moscow's invading forces on Feb 24 last year and the initial phase of the war. "Nobody from serious countries is telling us that we need to talk to Putin, because they see what Putin is doing," Kuleba was quoted as saying by European Pravda [UKR]. "And accordingly, they understand that all this does not make sense," he furthermore told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. 

Kuleba stressed that the focus of the war has shifted for the allies and partners of Ukraine from mediating talks, and hampering Russia's advances and victory, to Ukraine's victory. "They started to speak about it and build policy from it," President Volodymyr Zelesnkyy's Foreign Minister said. "They [the allies] started to speak about it and build policy from it," noted Kuleba, adding that there's certainty about the resolution of the issue of fighter jets for Kyiv's Air Force. 

"Ukraine managed to achieve an important goal: if at the beginning of the war, even our friends said that Russia should not win this war, then we worked very hard to change this rhetoric and to start saying that Ukraine should win this war. They started about it is to speak and build one's policy from it," Kuleba reportedly said. 

Kuleba to hold 10 meetings on sidelines of Munich Security Conference

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba also announced that he would be holding 10 meetings on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that was attended by 25 Defence Ministers of European Union member states. "I will make the most of my time in Munich. In addition to participating in the events of the Munich Conference, I have more than 10 negotiations scheduled. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, head of Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, head of the Foreign Affairs Office of China’s Communist Party Central Committee Wang Yi, and many others," the minister noted. 

David defeated Goliath not by conversation, but by courage & sling. Courage we do have. The sling should get stronger. So that the next year we would gather for the Post-War @MunSecConf. We shall prevail over Putin & “putins” in 🇷🇺 & all over the world.https://t.co/z2SCya9mDU

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa)

The framework was launched with a speech by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There is “no alternative” to victory, said the Ukrainian leader, as he derided Russia's unprovoked war on Ukrainian territory. "We saw it last year and we definitely see it this year: We can make it," Zelenskyy said as he addressed the Munich Conference via a video link. The embattled Ukrainian leader appealed to NATO and the European allies to "hurry" with the delivery of advanced weaponry and military equipment for Kyiv's forces to counter Russian aggression.