Arya News - An immediate ceasefire in Ukraine without negotiations has no chance of success, because it will not be a long-term peace, Swiss journalist and member of the Geneva cantonal parliament Guy Mettan told Sputnik.
Following talks in Kiev on Saturday, the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday. In the early hours of Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Kiev and Moscow resume direct talks without any preconditions in Istanbul on May 15. "For three years, Kiev and its allies have called traitors and threatened all reasonable people who called for a resumption of negotiations. Only with [US] President [Donald] Trump coming to power has the position of Ukrainians and Europeans finally changed: today they demand an immediate ceasefire without negotiations, which has no chance of success, because any truce in the current circumstances would mean a resumption of war in the short or long term," Mettan said. Mettan recalled that Russia began negotiations with Ukraine first in Belarus and then in Istanbul from the very beginning of the military operation, but it was the Ukrainians who, at the request of then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the allies, interrupted them when they were close to completion in 2022. Ukraine will face a complete defeat on the battlefield if it rejects the Russian proposal to hold talks in Turkey, the Swiss journalist said."President Putin"s proposal for a meeting in Istanbul between Russians and Ukrainians without outside interference is a real revelation. Let"s see whether the Ukrainians will be able to grasp this outstretched hand or whether they will persist in their desire to continue fighting until their complete defeat on the battlefield," Mettan said.Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies are highly likely to do everything to avoid the start of real negotiations with Russia, the Swiss journalist added.He added that the Ukrainian president is afraid to negotiate because any negotiations imply concessions that it refuses to make, namely, the renunciation of territories and acceptance of the status of a neutral country.In the early hours of Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Kiev and Moscow resume direct talks without any preconditions in Istanbul on May 15.Following talks in Kiev on Saturday, the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday.