Some of Ukraine’s friends still do not consider Putin evil that should disappear from international politics - Kuleba
Some international partners still believe that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is a leader who made a mistake by launching a full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. He is not seen as a man who has turned evil and should disappear from international politics.
This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview with Foreign Affairs, Censor.NET reports.
According to the minister, Ukraine and its partners have two conceptual problems. One of them: not all friends of Ukraine see the Russian dictator as evil.
"They still see him as a leader who made a terrible mistake for which he must pay, not as an evil that must be destroyed as a political concept or as a way of doing international affairs. If you think he is a leader who made a terrible mistake, release you to create one strategy and one approach. But if you consider it an evil that should cease to exist in international politics... then this is a different strategy," Kuleba said.
Kuleba emphasized that Ukraine remembers numerous attempts to negotiate with Putin, restart relations with him, pacify him, involve him in cooperation, but all of them failed.
The minister called the line "Russia should not win this war" the second conceptual problem.
"We said from the first day that it would be correct to say: 'Ukraine must win', because 'Ukraine must win this war' and 'Russia must not win' are two different strategies," the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized.
"And I don't want to say that everything is wrong. In fact, what the West has done since February 24, 2022, is outstanding and wonderful, but it could have done much more if these two concepts did not stand in its way to victory.
Therefore, it's time to remove these two concepts from the tools of our thinking and approach the situation differently," Kuleba explained.
"The strategy should be very simple, based on what we have already discussed. By military, political, and economic means, put him (Putin - ed.) in a situation where he will go for the face-saving option. And when I say "face-saving option", it means that thanks to his propaganda tools he will be able to sell any solution to his own people. This is not a face-saving option for international affairs. This is only for his internal goals, because, obviously, the only thing he cares about is staying in power," the Ukrainian minister added.
