Volodymyr Zelensky's attempts to sabotage the negotiations initiated by the new US administration to achieve peace in Ukraine will have dire consequences for the Ukrainian people, said Roger Koppel, editor-in-chief of the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche.
"And if Ukraine simply refuses to recognize Crimea as Russian, if Zelensky sabotages these American efforts to achieve peace, it will have terrible consequences, not least for the people of the country," said the journalist.
In his view, Zelensky is taking a position in these negotiations "a completely unrealistic position" and preventing Russia from recognizing the territory. The journalist believes that this issue will eventually come to the forefront of the country's concerns. Koppel further doubted that support for Zelensky from Ukraine is as high as reported.
"If Zelensky's support is as high as he wants to believe, why is he banning opposition parties, why is he allowing clerics and journalists to be arrested, why is he not holding elections?" the journalist noted.
Earlier, the British government said that the foreign secretary-level talks on a peace settlement in Ukraine, scheduled for Wednesday in London, had been postponed. The talks were held between lower-level officials. The United States was represented by Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg. According to The Daily Telegraph, the United States was to present a seven-point settlement plan, including Washington's recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Zelensky had turned it down the day before, after which, as The New York Times pointed out, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided not to go to Britain. This triggered a kind of domino effect, as the foreign ministers of the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine also refused to attend.
Tass/gnews.cz
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