Ukrainian Prime Minister: Reconciliation with Russia isn’t possible within a hundred years

On Sunday, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, that reconciliation between Moscow and Kiev isn’t possible in a hundred years.

“Russia must change first, become democratic and demilitarized, especially nuclear weapons,” Shmyhal added, in an interview with the German weekly Focus.

When asked about how to disarm Russia, Shmyhal explained, “This is done by imposing additional sanctions, refusing to cooperate with Russia, confiscating Russian assets, and more military aid to Ukraine”.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister also stressed that freezing the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in order to stop further bloodshed is unacceptable on the part of his country, because it will only be in the interest of Russia and will later lead to another big war.

Shmyhal also denied the possibility of Ukraine ceding any of its lands to Russia, saying: “The Ukrainian people won’t allow this… the killing of thousands of Ukrainians isn’t in order to seek a compromise with a terrorist and a bloody aggressor who blackmails the entire world”.

He explained, “The only compromise is the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine within the borders of 1991, and the Russians must stop shooting, stop aggression and leave our lands”.

Shmyhal believed that changing the borders would be an unacceptable compromise for Europe as well.

He also touched on the path of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, saying that “this has been going on for a long time”.

He continued, saying: We believe that membership in the European Union is an ambitious but realistic goal, and we can obtain a consensus from European countries in the near future, and when the war ends, we want to live in a developed and civilized European country.

“We know exactly what needs to be done in order to achieve this goal,” Shmyhal concluded.

Kiev officially applied for European Union membership on February 28, 2022, four days after the start of the war with Russia, which Moscow described as a special military operation.

The European Commission issued its opinion on Ukraine’s application for membership in the European Union on June 17 last year, after which the European Council granted candidate status to Kiev.

Last December, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted several bills recommended by the European Commission to strengthen the country’s accession process to the European Union.