No one will agree on peace talks until frontline in Donbas is stopped - Butusov
It will be possible to agree on peace only when both sides are in a positional deadlock.
This was stated by Yurii Butusov, editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, in an interview with Radio NV.
"Zelenskyy is not engaged in war. He has been to the front in Donbas twice in a year. The front is the command center of the brigade. It is very far from the front. But even at the command posts of the brigades, he has been to Donbas twice in a year. The first time was in Avdiivka in January 2024, and yesterday (November 18 - Ed.) near Pokrovsk. This is the attention of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to the war. He is busy reading out in the evenings what his speechwriters in Kyiv write to him. He is completely detached from the war, he believes that these evening visits and persuasion of our NATO partners can influence the situation in the war. He does not understand that until the front in Donbas is stopped, no one will agree on any peace talks. Neither Biden, nor Trump, no one," the journalist emphasized.
Mr. Butusov noted that peace can only be negotiated when both sides are in a positional stalemate.
"And what is the stalemate when we are losing villages every day? We are showing the enemy our weakness, that it can achieve the complete destruction of Ukraine by force. Of course, this does not encourage Russia to negotiate. Therefore, no miracle will happen. Until the Ukrainian leadership starts fighting a war, not talking, stealing the budget, and siphoning off funds," he said.
The Censor.NET editor-in-chief reminded that UAH 24 billion was spent on fortifications this year, but he did not visit the defense lines during his visit to Donbas.
"Until Zelenskyy feels public pressure, nothing will prompt him to act. He reacts only when, unfortunately, public opinion hits him on the back of the head with a stick. Then the government starts to move a little bit," Butusov added.
He emphasized that the Constitution stipulates that Zelenskyy is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, so he appoints generals and controls and is responsible for organizing and assessing the results of hostilities.
"If he believes that he is not an expert and does not understand this work, he should at least resign from the position of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Or at least create a governing body to which he should transfer responsibility for the war, and appoint adequate, competent leaders. Because the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Office is not responsible for managing battalions and companies, but for allocating resources. That is, resources for the war are allocated by the president's decision. Not by Syrskyi, not by generals. They cannot perform a miracle. Several tens of billions have now been allocated for the arms program. We can see that a large batch of 120-mm mortar shells produced by Ukroboronprom, for which the government allocated money, turned out to be defective. The army was left without mines because of poor decisions. Is Syrskyi responsible? He has nothing to do with it.
The same goes for defense installations. The entire budget is allocated not to the engineering troops of the Armed Forces, as it should be, but to private firms that receive contracts from the Military-Civilian Administration, which is subordinate to the president," he concluded.
