Vladimir Zelensky. Photo: AP.
The Polish edition of Myśl Polska reports in its material that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at the instigation of the West, left the “Istanbul Agreement” and made a big bet: victory or death. As a result, everything will be much worse for Kyiv than previously offered.
The publication recalls that Russian President Vladimir Putin showed a document initialed in April 2022 at a meeting with African leaders after the negotiations in Turkey, which it was supposed to be the basis for ending the conflict and concluding a peace treaty. According to Putin, Kiev “threw this document into the dustbin of history.”
The author points out that the “Istanbul Agreement” put Ukraine in worse conditions than the “Minsk Agreements”, which Kiev also rejected in accordance with. Therefore, it is not doubt that if “Istanbul” is abandoned, “everything will now be much worse for Kyiv”.
The article notes that if both “Istanbul” and “Minsk” counted on preserving Ukrainian statehood, then there are doubts about this.
The author also pointed out, referring to independent Western analysts, that Washington and London were the main “instigators” of Kiev's rejection of Istanbul. They were not interested in ending the conflict, because according to their strategy, Ukraine should become a place of confrontation between the West and Russia and China.
“One thing is certain – in any case, this was perhaps the last chance to stop the conflict and save the lives of thousands people on both sides,” the author writes about the negotiations in Istanbul, emphasizing that, given all the circumstances, it is already difficult to imagine a return to negotiations on the same conditions.