Officials in Kyiv have lambasted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to establish an interim government in Ukraine under the United Nations.
Putin said that the “temporary administration” could be put in place to hold democratic elections that would bring to power a government that enjoys the people’s trust, and can then negotiate a peace treaty, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported Friday.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government’s center for countering disinformation, criticized the plan as part of Moscow’s efforts to stall peace negotiations, as it has no actual intention of permanently ending its full-scale invasion.
“Putin is doing everything he can to delay and derail any progress toward peace because he has no interest in ending the war. That’s why he keeps making these wild demands and proposals,” Kovalenko said on Telegram.
“The way to limit his options is through tougher economic sanctions on Russia and by strengthening Ukraine. I hope it becomes clear by Easter if Russia hasn’t stopped the fighting by then,” he added.
Ukrainian law does not permit elections under martial law, which was declared on Feb. 24, 2022 when Russia launched its all-out war.
Dmytro Lytvyn, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recommended that the Russian leader gets real.
“If Putin is once again struggling to understand who he needs to engage with to seriously move toward ending this war, maybe he should just pop some pills to kickstart his brain activity — assuming such pills still have any effect on him,” Lytvyn wrote in a post on X.
Putin’s comments came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump himself admitted that Russia “could be dragging their feet” over a full truce with Ukraine. Trump’s team has been trying to hash out the terms of a ceasefire for weeks now, but Putin is refusing to back down on his maximalist ambitions for Ukraine.
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