Ukrainian Negotiators Discuss Peace Talks

I was in that moment in the group of Ukrainian

negotiators. We negotiate, uh, with Russian

delegation practically two months in March and April,

the possible peaceful settlement agreement w- between

Ukraine and Russia. And we, as you remember,

concluded so-called Istanbul communiqué.

And we were very close in the middle of April, in the

end of April, to finalize our war with some

peaceful settlement. For some reasons, it was

postponed. But to my mind,

Putin, this is my personal view, Putin, in one week

after started his aggression in 24 February last

year,

v- very

quickly understood he did mistake and tried to do

everything possible to conclude agreement with Ukraine.

And Istanbul communiqué,

it's, was his personal decision to accept the

text of

this communiqué, which totally

far away from the initial proposal of Russia,

ultimatum proposal of Russia, which they put before the

Ukrainian delegation in Minsk.

So we managed to find a very real compromise.

So Putin really wanted to reach some peaceful settlement

with Ukraine. It's very important to remember