Former President Kuchma is certain that Putin won’t sign a peace agreement with Ukraine without a decisive victory

Former President Kuchma considers it unrealistic for Putin to engage in peace talks over Ukraine. ‘Putin cannot sign a document stating that he didn’t get what he wanted [in Ukraine]. He will have to explain this to the Russian people. He is the leader of Russia,’ Kuchma stated in an interview with The Guardian.

In his opinion, the US would ‘lose face in front of the world’ if they refuse to support Ukraine. He also suggested that Putin’s invasion was facilitated by mistakes made by the West, which weakly reacted to other signs of Moscow’s ‘revisionist ambitions.’

According to Kuchma, these ambitions surfaced in 2003 when Putin claimed rights to Tuzla Island in the Black Sea. This was followed by the invasion of Georgia. ‘It was extremely unpleasant that the world did not react. It was silent. Putin understood that he could do anything because there was no decisive response,’ Kuchma said.