Peace talks possible only after ceasefire – Poroshenko
Ukrainian MP and leader of the European Solidarity party, Petro Poroshenko, believes that peace talks are possible only after a ceasefire is reached, the political party's website reported on Saturday.
Poroshenko expressed belief that the war can and should be ended this year, but emphasized the need for real security guarantees, in particular, the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine.
"I firmly believe that the strategy of immediately heading towards negotiations on a peace agreement is meaningless. We need to divide this into two stages. Stage one: we need to ensure a ceasefire. We have very effective tools for this, because the first step of the United States and the European Union on secondary sanctions for countries that continue to buy Russian energy resources has shown its effectiveness," he emphasized in a comment to the Polish television channel Slawa TV during the Munich Security Conference.
The politician noted that secondary US and EU sanctions against countries that purchase Russian energy have already led to a drop in oil prices, and the attack on the "shadow fleet" has changed Moscow's position.
"We have two tools, Chancellor Merz said, including during our meeting. The first is sanctions that cut off Putin's ability to finance the war. The second is weapons that enable Ukraine to respond to attacks on civilian infrastructure," the politician clarified.
According to him, the European Union should be a full participant in the negotiations, because it is the one that finances the majority of the arms supply. "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, but nothing without Europe," Poroshenko concluded.
