Ukrainian website lists ex-US State Secy as 'accomplice to crimes against Ukraine'

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has come under fire by Ukrainian officials for proposing the war-torn country to cede control of areas occupied by the Russian military in order to reach a peace agreement. According to Nexta TV, Kissinger was listed on the Ukrainian website "Peacemaker" as an "accomplice to crimes against Ukraine".

According to reports, the Ukrainian website has blacklisted thousands of pro-Russia voices since the onset of the war. The Peacemaker website also publishes personal information of those believed to be the "enemy of Ukraine".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also slammed those in the West for suggesting that Kyiv should relinquish annexed territories to Russia.

He stated that those "great geopoliticians" who advocate for this ignored the concerns of common Ukrainians. "We always have to think of the people and remember that values are not just words," he stated, as per the Associated Press (AP). Zelenskyy also compared those advocating for ceding Ukrainian territory to those who handed territory to Hitler in 1938 in the hopes of averting World War II.

Kissinger batted for the "status quo ante" in Ukraine

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on May 23, Kissinger had batted for the "status quo ante" in Ukraine, implying that Russia should be allowed to keep Crimea, which it captured back in 2014. Kissinger had also stated that continuing the war beyond a point would constitute a new war against Russia rather than the freedom of Ukraine. 

"Kissinger's calendar appears to be set for 1938, not 2022, and he believed he was speaking to an audience in Munich of that time, not in Davos," the Ukrainian President stated.

Ukraine rejects any ceasefire deal that involves ceding territory to Russia

Notably, the Ukrainian authorities stated that the country will not accept any ceasefire settlement that involves ceding territory to Moscow. Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine's chief negotiator in the halted peace negotiations, declared that any concession to Russia would be nothing but a postponed conflict.

"Ukraine trades neither its sovereignty nor territories and Ukrainians living on them," he added. He further warned that agreeing to a truce now while making concessions to Russia would backfire on Ukraine, as "Moscow would retaliate more forcefully after any break in the battle." 

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP