Defense ministers of Great Britain, Netherlands and Latvia opposed any pressure on Ukraine regarding negotiations with Russian Federation
Several European defense ministers have said that Ukraine should not feel any pressure to enter into peace talks with Russia.
They announced this at a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Forum of 10 countries in Edinburgh on Thursday, Censor.NET reports with reference to "European Truth".
Ben Wallace, Britain's defense secretary, said it was up to Ukraine to decide whether it wanted to hold any peace talks, and that Western powers should help Ukraine "fight for its right to choose" without "a gun to its head from the Kremlin."
"We want Ukraine to be able to discuss whether to solve this issue from a position of strength, and not from a position of weakness. And this is the current direction of movement," added Wallace.
Kaisa Ollongren, the defense minister of the Netherlands, echoed Wallace's words, noting that "it is important that at this moment Ukraine knows that it can count on us" and that Ukraine is winning with the help of training provided by Western countries.
She emphasized that for Ukraine the war is existential, therefore it is necessary to continue the struggle against the Russian invasion. "If Russia stops fighting, the war will end, but if Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine," she said.
Artis Pabriks, Latvia's deputy prime minister and defense minister, called for skepticism about any Russian proposals for peace talks at this stage of the conflict. The proposition cannot be genuine if "at the same time they are bombing the civilian population" and that Russia is "responsible" for the war as a whole. In his opinion, Kyiv is not obliged to strive for the cessation of hostilities under the current circumstances.
