Peace with Russia impossible through diplomacy alone – Yatsenyuk
The policy of appeasement always leads to aggression and peace with Russia is impossible using only diplomatic means, says founder and chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-16 Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
“I’d like to remind us that back in 1938 the whole free world was eager to sign pacts with Hitler. And to what result? Hitler started the Second World War. In 2014, after the modern Hitler illegally annexed Crimea and deployed his troops in Donetsk and Luhansk, the free world also willed to sign pacts with him. And to what result? In 2022 he started the massive aggression against Ukraine. So, no more appeasement policies. To attain peace, we need to demonstrate force,” he said, opening the 17th Annual Security Forum titled “UA: Unite Again to Defeat the Global Aggressor” on Thursday in Kyiv.
Yatsenyuk also questioned the effectiveness of the idea of achieving peace only through diplomatic channels and on diplomatic grounds.
“I categorically disagree with this. I see no chance to arrive strike a peace deal with Russia solely through diplomatic channels. Diplomacy must be coupled with military might. This is the only language Putin understands,” he said.
He believes that a clear and comprehensive plan is needed to stop the war: “My address to the US Administration and to those willing to negotiate with Putin. Indeed, Putin wants to negotiate with you, he’s even ready to play golf with the US President. But he wills to play golf at his own hockey rink. So, what do we need? We need a comprehensive, strong plan to bring back and ascertain peace. We cannot attain peace through compromises. Compromises only whet this beast’s appetite. We have already compromised many things, and we paid dearly for this with our own lives and our blood. This is our common battle. We are extremely grateful to the EU states, to the NATO Allies, to the US for all their support of Ukraine. If that would not have been the case, we would not have stood strong to retaliate.”
