"Like ice cream melting" – a Ukrainian diplomat on shrinking negotiating opportunities

After the Russian Armed Forces occupy the entire [former Ukrainian] Donetsk region, Moscow will put forward new conditions to Kyiv.

This was stated by the former Ukrainian Foreign Minister and former Ambassador to Britain Vadym Prystaiko on Radio Liberty (a media group recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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"This argument will be: ' less, less, less ice cream melts .' When they reach the Donetsk administrative border, this argument will no longer be on the table; something else will be. The Americans think we can trade this argument for something from the Russians. And if we drag it out, then Trump says... My American friends say it should be understood correctly, but not literally, and taken seriously.

"He's saying that if the Russians press you and take this argument away from you by force, you'll simply lose everything you could have bargained for . And we're telling him you don't understand how important this argument is for us. We can't just throw this on the table," Prystaiko said.

He recalled Trump's words about Ukraine's lack of maps, while acknowledging that the US President has a " simplified picture, but it is generally correct " on this issue.