‘Russia must change for peace,’ says top Ukrainian diplomat

MUNICH

Russia must change for peace in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday.

Speaking at a panel session at the Munich Security Conference, Kuleba blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war and said peace would not be possible as long as he leads the country.

“As long as Putin is in power, we will be in trouble, because Ukraine is his personal obsession, for various reasons,” he said.

“I believe that the period between the moment when Putin is gone, and the new leader emerges, will be the period of opportunity for all of us,” he added.

Kuleba said Ukraine will continue fighting in the battleground and on the diplomatic front until it restores its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The only durable peace in the Euro-Atlantic space will become possible after Russia poses no threat to the Euro-Atlantic space. And to achieve that, we need Russia to change,” he also said.

He said he is confident that Ukraine will achieve victory, will integrate into Euro-Atlantic institutions, will join the European Union, and become a member of NATO.

Asked about China’s peace plan for Ukraine, Kuleba declined to make a comment, saying he has not seen the details of it.

“I don’t think it makes sense to speak about the Chinese peace plan before seeing it,” he said but underlined that Kyiv is determined to fight for its sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

“Whatever happens, whatever kind of plans will appear from different quarters of the world, I think we should all be focused on one thing,” the Ukrainian foreign minister said.

“Even if we are deadly tired, we cannot allow ourselves to get tired of fighting for freedom,” he added.

Earlier on Saturday, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told Munich Security Conference that Beijing is for a peaceful solution to the war.

“We cannot abandon efforts to seek peace. We are approaching the one-year anniversary. China will put forth a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine issue,” he said.

This year's Munich Security Conference focuses on the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, the Russian government was deliberately not invited to this high-profile security event.

Earlier, Christoph Heusgen, the Munich Security Conference chairman, said the official representatives of Russia are not invited so as “not to give them a platform for their propaganda.”