Prominent outlet claims unexpected visit of Boris Johnson played a key role in preventing an end to fighting
According to the“behind-the-scenes look”at the ongoing crisis publishedin the Kiev-based outlet, Ukraine’s western backers were convinced that the Russian military would seize Kiev within three days and offered Zelensky to govern from exile in London or Warsaw.
When this failed to happen, and Russia offered negotiations, Zelensky sent a delegation with the goal of creating the impression he was willing to make a deal. According to UP, the points of agreementmade publicby Russian envoy Vladimir Medinsky after the March 29 talks in Istanbul, Turkey“are in fact true.”
Then Russian troops withdrew from northern Ukraine and British PM Boris Johnson arrived in Kiev,“almost without warning”on April 9.
Johnson brought“two simple messages” with him, according to UP. The first was that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was“a war criminal, who should be prosecuted and not negotiated with.”The second was that even if Ukraine was ready to sign some kind of agreement with Russia, the West was not.
Johnson’s message was understood as a signal that the collective West“now felt that Putin was not really as omnipotent as they had imagined,”according to Ukrainian officials quoted by UP. Between what they described as Ukrainian military victories and alleged Russian atrocities in“Bucha, Borodyanka and Mariupol,”the West stopped being“isolationist”and pledged to help Ukraine with all sorts of heavy weapons. Kiev officials are now publicly planning for a“total defeat”and“capitulation”of Russia.
“The moral and values gap between Putin and the world is so great that even the Kremlin will not have a negotiating table long enough to bridge it,” according to UP.
UK PM scuttled Kiev-Moscow peace talks – Ukrainian media — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
