president.gov.ua

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that if anyone offers Putin territory in exchange for peace, they will have neither peace nor territory.

"If you ask any Ukrainian national what kind of peace Ukraine needs – on the terms of returning Donbas and Crimea, or on those of surrender – everyone will say that peace on the terms of surrender is totally unacceptable. After all, if anyone offers Putin territory in exchange for peace, there will be neither peace nor territory. The whole world had the opportunity to learn about this starting from Putin's campaign to seize Abkhazia, Ossetia, and Transnistria," Poroshenko told ZIK TV channel on October 16.

The President noted that it is the global solidarity with Ukraine that allows strengthening sanctions against Russia, and that motivates Putin to return to the negotiating table to accept and fulfill obligations under the Minsk accords. In particular, this refers to the withdrawal of troops and weapons, as well as the deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas.

Видео дня

Read alsoOrthodox church split just tip of Putin's crumbling "soft power" in Ukraine

"I am sure that after the withdrawal of troops, the territories will be returned very soon, solely by political and diplomatic means. I'd like to emphasize that, according to polls, over 60% of Ukrainians are willing to have the territories returned in a political and democratic way. Just a mere 11% of Ukrainians offer to launch a military campaign in Donbas. I don't accept such a scenario categorically, because this is exactly what Putin seeks. However, Putin's strategy is now seeing a complete fiasco, as he has close to no allies worldwide, he has got a deep economic crisis in his country, and he just cannot explain why they needed to unleash the war against a friendly neighboring country," Poroshenko said.