To start any negotiations with the aggressor state, Ukraine must be strong – Petro Poroshenko said this in an interview with Channel 5. He noted that such a moment was in the fall of 2022 after the liberation of Kherson. But since then, russia has learned a lot and changed its war tactics.
“According to the theory of the russian fegeration, and I was pleased to hear this from Zaluzhny, the war is divided into several stages. The first stage, as putin called it, was “destruction”. This is what russia was doing in the first two months of the war. They went with ceremonial suits, with medals to hold a parade in 2-3 days or 2-3 weeks. They did not attack the energy sector, they did not attack hospitals, they did not attack educational institutions. They tried to keep it for themselves,” Poroshenko said.
“What destroyed this scenario? The courage of the Ukrainian people, unity, and Javelins, N’laws, Stingers, and Bayraktars. By the way, Javelins was a decision that we signed during negotiations with Trump,” the fifth President recalled.
“When we pushed them away from Kyiv, the first stage ended. The second stage began – what happened in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions. This is the summer or autumn of 2022. It is called the “counteroffensive”. What ensured this success? The wisdom, courage, and unity of the Ukrainian people, the effectiveness of the actions of the Armed Forces and the Haimars, which we received from the Americans. They destroyed both russian warehouses and russian control centers. And the russians fled from the Kherson and Kharkiv regions. What did we have to take advantage of? At that time, when Ukraine was strong, we had to sign peace and set conditions for the immediate liberation of Ukrainian land,” Poroshenko said.
In his opinion, putin could have done this because he was afraid of military defeat.
“Then there was no “Surovikin line”, there was no mobilization, there were still positions, and they had not yet learned to blind the Himars. But at the end of 22, they learned. And the Himars stage was over. This led to the third stage of the war, which is called “attrition”. These are missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, destruction of energy, blackouts throughout the country, and casualties among the civilian population due to missile attacks. This is not a very good time for peace negotiations,” says Petro Poroshenko.
“To do this, we must become stronger. russia must weaken through sanctions, through strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine, through strengthening the Ukrainian economy,” Poroshenko emphasizes.