Maintaining strength on the battlefield and defense against Russia allows them to push back on Putin’s attempts to start negotiations — what Podolyak describes as a death sentence for Ukrainein an interview with The Hill.
“President Zelensky is definitely against it [negotiations], and the Ukrainian society is adamant there, because we fully appreciate the risks,” he said.
Podolyak warned that Russia would use any pause in fighting to remobilize and launch an even stronger attack on Ukraine. Absent negotiations, Podolyak said Putin is likely to focus on a war of attrition to grind down international support until his troops can get the upper hand. “They will start to manipulate, behind the scenes, moods, activities, to profess and to deepen this war fatigue,” he said, warning Russia is capable of manufacturing crises like sending an overwhelming number of migrants to Europe’s borders. He warned Moscow could also “think of some terrorist attacks against infrastructural facilities in Europe, so that they can arrive at some negotiation position, or standing for their own benefits and their own plans.”
“We understand this option very well and keep discussing it with our partners,” he said.
Podolyak said the problem with “so-called traditional Europe,” and highlighted Germany, France and Italy, is with the “promptness of the decisionmaking,” criticizing them as too slow in sending the needed assistance to Ukraine compared to the speed of the United States.
