Zelenskyy Will Continue Negotiations With Putin On Donbas Due To Changes In Situation Over Year – Presidential Office

After the expiration of the time allotted for negotiations with Russia on Donbas, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to continue negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and not proceed to the announced "plan B", since the negotiations yielded results over a year.

Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, told this to Ukrainian News Agency.

"Over this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy managed to do several fundamentally important things that the previous President did not succeed in throughout his entire term of office. The situation has changed significantly compared to what was the previous autumn before the first for President Zelenskyy Normandy Four summit," he said.

Firstly, he noted the reduction of shelling tenfold and, accordingly, the saving of dozens of military and civilian lives, secondly, the stabilization of the issue of the transit of Russian gas on extremely favorable terms for Ukraine, and thirdly, humanitarian aspects and the restoration of infrastructure in Donbas.

"Therefore, if the situation has changed significantly, then this allows the Ukrainian team to act differently than it was supposed a year ago," Podoliak said.

Accordingly, according to him, it is no longer a question of withdrawal from the negotiations, their fundamental changes or the launch of "plan B".

"Now it is already incorrect to talk about plans A, B, and so on. We combine elements of different strategies and continue negotiations in all formats that can and are already bringing very concrete positive results for Ukraine," he said.

In particular, Ukraine is determined to continue negotiations in the Normandy Format with Russia, Germany and France.

“The change in the situation demonstrates that much more can be achieved in negotiations with the participation of the President of Russia than in other formats, or without negotiations. Is it necessary to separately explain why in specific political systems one person makes key decisions and why this person should take part in negotiations if we, for our part, want positive progress towards peace? Therefore, Ukraine insists on a new meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four," he said.

Podoliak added that Ukraine is confidently moving towards holding this meeting.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, today marks a year since the meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Format countries.

Earlier, Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that he does not intend to continue negotiations with Russia for more than a year from the first summit with Putin.

According to him, Ukraine has "two or three plans of action" after leaving the negotiations, but what exactly they are, he did not voice.

Today, on the occasion of a year from the meeting, Zelenskyy stated that the path to peace is not easy, but expressed confidence that it will be possible to achieve it.