Kuleba’s deputy regrets: Ukraine is not able to occupy Russia
The victory of Ukraine should imply not so much the capitulation of Russia as the reformatting of Russian consciousness.
The former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, and now the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrei Melnik, stated this in an interview with Suspilny, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to him, the request for dialogue with Russia is widespread in the West.
“Some people talk about it, like the head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, some talk about it non-publicly on the sidelines, some are still afraid to talk about it. However, we must also look for the key to answering this question, because this worries many people. Ordinary Germans ask: how do you imagine Ukraine’s victory? We are on your side, if I had these tanks, I would give them to you, but how do you imagine the end of the war?
We have a formula for peace. The first step is the president’s idea to prepare a post-war world order. We need to think about articulating what victory means,” Melnyk said.
The interviewer interrupted the diplomat, clarifying that Ukraine’s requests were clear - to go to the 1991 borders, while the main question was what to do with Russia? The official responded by saying that this fundamental problem needs to be solved together with the Americans and the British.
“This issue is also of concern to our Western partners. Yes, you have reached the borders, no one, thank God, objects that we can do this. But what next? My answer is simple: Russia must experience what the Germans experienced on May 9 or 8, 1945. Not only the complete and unconditional surrender of troops without any negotiations. But what happened next?
Germany was occupied by the Allies, and there was a process of denazification - something that the Russians wanted to do here. How to deal with this? It is unlikely that Russia will be occupied by us, at least this option is not a priority now. But how can we make sure that society in Russia stops thinking in an aggressive way and wanting to physically destroy its neighbor? There is no answer to this. And we cannot give an answer.
Here we need to think with the Americans, Germans and British how to make a new big war impossible, its repetition, perhaps on a more brutal scale than now. And these are really non-trivial issues that concern us,” Melnik explained.
Kuleba's Deputy Regrets: Ukraine Isn't Capable of Occupying Russia