«Airport truce»: Podolyak reveals Ukraine’s intent

Idea of concluding «airport truce» with Russia — agreement on mutual cessation of attacks on civilian airfields — is a promising step to involve Europe in peace process and create additional negotiation track.

Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President, shared these details during «United News» national telethon broadcast.

Main intent behind initiative

According to Podolyak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is entirely correct in his vision, as this move aims to bring Europeans into active diplomacy. Intent is based on mirror approach constantly voiced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: if Russia does not attack Ukrainian airports, Ukraine does not strike Russia’s key airfields. Otherwise, aggressor will simply have no safe aviation infrastructure left.
«This looks absolutely fine in terms of the possibility to enter some other negotiation track, considering the opportunity to involve Europeans. And similarly, this can be „sold“ in Russia by saying: look, we are not talking about an air truce now, but about a truce that will allow you to avoid having problems at airports,» Podolyak explained.

At the same time, he emphasized a critical technical nuance: such a truce would mean total absence of Russian missiles and drones in the air; otherwise, no airline or insurance company will take the risk of operating flights.