Two ways to end the war: Podolyak explains the details
Mykhailo Podolyak emphasizes that Ukraine has the right to self-defense under international law.
Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President / Photo: Getty Images / © Getty Images
There are two ways to end the war.
Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, told about this in an exclusive interview with "24 Kanal."
"The Washington Post writes that the United States is concerned about a Ukrainian drone strike on an over-the-horizon radar station in Russia, suggesting it could disrupt strategic stability. Allegedly, these objects were not involved in supporting Russia's war against Ukraine, but they are "sensitive sites", because Russia may consider its strategic deterrent forces as targets. This sounds somewhat strange. And isn't a direct mass missile attack on the civilian population of another country a threat to strategic stability? That is a complete breakdown of international law. The transfer of nuclear weapons to a third country, the seizure of nuclear facilities, the uncontrolled use of these facilities, massive strikes on critical infrastructure, including those connected with Europe, constant sabotage threats, or even acts of sabotage in European countries – are these not threats to strategic security?" he said.
Podolyak emphasizes that Ukraine has the right to defend itself under international law.
"We constantly tell our partners that this is not a parity war, and this is not the way to fight, because Russia can see all the targets it needs to attack. It can use space technologies, over-the-horizon radar systems to see all targets on Ukrainian territory, not just military but also civilian and critical ones, and destroy them. So what should Ukraine do? Should we sit and watch, as a missile comes to our home, and do nothing? That's not possible. Therefore, Ukraine says there are two ways," the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office said.
Two ways to end the war
The first way to end the war is the defeat of Russia on the battlefield, Podolyak believes.
"The first is the military defeat of Russia. Regardless of what Russia says, which objects are destroyed, and so on. Because international law clearly states, that a country conducting a defensive war, not only has the right but is obligated to destroy everything it deems necessary, everything considered as war infrastructure on the territory of the aggressor country. The world must supply Ukraine with weapons, clearly regulate the rules of conventional warfare for a somewhat moronic, excuse me, but there are no other words, Russia, explaining that either you follow these rules, or you will be collectively destroyed," he explained.
Podolyak also told about the second way to end the war.
"There is also a second route - we are going to the Peace Summit. This is a platform where all countries must fix the key thesis: you cannot just come and violate international law, destroying other rules, destroying another country, because there will be an appropriate punishment for this. Within this platform, you go to Russia and say: either you stop, or we will isolate you in global institutions, isolate your financial system completely, isolate your markets completely, impose additional sanctions against those countries that cooperate with you, and so on," he said.
There are two routes, and one can choose either one, the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office noted. Ukraine can operate based on its resources, only the first route – the destruction of war infrastructure in Russia.
"And here I come to the key point. What is the destruction of war infrastructure? It means various things: the battlefield itself, accumulation points in the occupied territories, and border areas because there is artillery concentration there. We saw this in the north of Kharkiv region. They concentrated everything in Belgorod region, at the border. There is still artillery, there are still ballistic missiles. You either destroy everything there or wait for them to come to you and start destroying your settlements," Podolyak said.
The adviser to the head of the Presidential Office notes, that this is, of course, the infrastructure of long-range warfare, that is, oil refining, military factories, airfields, and in particular, over-the-horizon or conventional radars of Russia. Why? Because they are the "eyes" of Russia, allowing it to see whom and how they will kill, including the civilian population on Ukrainian territory. Therefore, there should be no discussions.
"I repeat, the President of Ukraine says that we are following the route that Ukraine can control. This is war, we are fighting here. If you want to reduce escalation risks, please gather and fix the position. It cannot be that the aggressor country is not held accountable for aggression, for the crime of aggression. This does not mean that one can come, kill someone, and then say: "well, you are destroying our radar systems here, so we need to negotiate because this is dangerous." What will we agree on? That the aggressor will not be held accountable for the crime of aggression? Today (May 30), the individual Lavrov (Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov) said they are ready for negotiations and "always" have been, but with security guarantees for Russia and considering some "new realities." What new realities? This is not "new realities" – this is occupation, this is a violation of international law," he stressed.
Then the question arises: do we allow international law to be broken? If we allow it, we need to come out and say that anyone can attack anyone at any time, noted Podolyak.
"And it will all depend on how many and what allies the attacked country has. Whether they will be ready to defend together with it, to supply it with weapons. Or they will say something like: "This is an aggressor, it is big, it attacked you. Let's not respond to the aggressor, let's kneel, let's kill ourselves, let's agree to any conditions of the aggressor." Then just say that international law is a fiction, there are no rules. Whoever has more weapons will dominate," he concluded.
Read also:
The occupiers struck an educational facility in Kharkiv region (photo)
Putin is preparing his people for a protracted war: analysts on the plans of the "führer"