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MUNICH – Vladimir Putinwill never consent to apeace deal in Ukraineand discussions are solely a way to mislead and perplex the West, according to the US’s former Ukraine negotiatorThe i Paper.

A new set of trilateral discussions among the US,Ukraineand Russia is scheduled to begin in Geneva on Tuesday, following talks that took place in the UAE at the beginning of this month.

The head of Kyiv’s delegation, Kyrylo Budanov, stated on Monday that “Ukraine’s interests need to be safeguarded” as worries grow about the White House’s potential compliance with Russian pressures.

US President Donald Trump has beenfacilitating talks designed to conclude the conflictsince he came back to the White House a year ago, but they have not yet produced any outcomes.

Kurt Volker, who served as the special envoy for Ukraine during the initial Trump administration from 2017 to 2019, stated that the discussions would never be able to achieve a long-term and valid peace – but might result in a short-term truce.

I don’t believe he will ever accept a peace deal, as it would mean recognizing Ukraine as a fully independent nation and regarding President Zelensky as a legitimate counterpart,” Volker stated. “Putin will never do that. He aims to maintain the possibility of dominating all of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Volker mentioned that he believed a truce might be reached if sufficient financial and military pressure was applied.Russia.

Peace negotiations ‘intended to divert the West’

While serving as Ukraine’s envoy – three years following Russia’s unlawful annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region – Volker met with his Russian counterparts on four occasions over a two-year period, and concluded that the discussions were primarily intended to mislead and perplex the West.

“It was evident even back then that President Putin is the sole decision-maker in Russia, so my counterpart lacked the power to genuinely agree to anything or engage in serious negotiations,” Volker stated at the Munich Security Conference.

It was merely a method to determine if he could mislead the West and make us pursue irrelevant issues, while occasionally expressing reasonable views. For us, it represented a chance to clearly convey our thoughts and stance, and to check if we could identify any areas of agreement.

Putin only reacts to military and economic situations on the ground, not through diplomatic efforts, Volker stated.

He doesn’t employ negotiations to achieve a mutually agreed-upon outcome. That’s not his intention. He desires what he wants, and he will seize it,” he stated. “Negotiations, primarily, serve as a means to divert our attention so he can proceed without interruption.

The key factor is the actual situation on the ground. Alter the reality that Putin is facing, and then there could be potential for advancement. Unfortunately, this is not occurring at the moment.

Volker mentioned that there had been “no progress from Russia” and insufficient pressure applied to the Kremlin to compel them into an agreement.

The former prime minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk,told The i Paper yesterdaythat the discussions were a “fraud” and likened them to a “KGB initiative”.

Yatsenyuk stated that the discussions had not advanced Ukraine “even a bit,” and remarked, “Even more troubling, these talks provided Putin with a platform to push for extreme demands.”

Discussions seem to have reached an impasse regarding the issue of territory, as Russia continues to insist on Ukraine ceding significant areas in the eastern part of the nation in exchange for a truce.

Russia takes up approximately 20 percent of Ukraineand has amended its constitution to assert control over four Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — despite not fully controlling them.

Trump has previously proposed that Ukraine may have to give up land to Russia in order to reach an agreement, and has echoed Russian misinformation.accusing Ukraine of initiating the invasion.