Nov 8 (Reuters) – Ukraine doubled down on its tough stance on negotiations with Russia on Tuesday, saying talks could only resume once the Kremlin relinquishes all Ukrainian territory and that Kyiv would fight on even if it is “stabbed in the back” by its allies.
DIPLOMACY
* The main condition for the resumption of negotiations with Russia would be the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, said the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov.
* A senior presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Ukraine had never refused to negotiate with Russia and was ready for talks with its future leader but not with Vladimir Putin. His comments followed a Washington Post report saying the Biden administration was privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate.
* White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been engaged in confidential talks with senior Russian officials aimed at lowering the risk of a broader war over Ukraine, a source familiar with the conversations said.
* Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign policy committee, said a Republican victory in Tuesday’s U.S. mid-term elections for Congress “will not in any way impact on (U.S.) support for Ukraine”.
* Sweden’s new prime minister vowed a firmer stance on fighting crime and terrorism during a visit to Turkey where he will seek the approval of President Tayyip Erdogan for his country’s bid to join NATO.
FIGHTING, CONFLICT
* Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Donetsk region in the east remained the “epicentre” of fighting, with hundreds of Russians being killed every day.
* Ukraine has received its first delivery of NASAMS and Apside air defence systems, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.
* Putin said that 50,000 Russian soldiers called up as part of his mobilisation drive were now fighting with combat units in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported.
* Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Russia was preparing new fortified lines of defence inside territory it controls “to forestall any rapid Ukrainian advances in the event of breakthroughs”.
QUOTES
“Negotiating with Putin would mean giving up, and we would never give him this gift… The Russian army will leave Ukrainian territory, and then dialogue will come,” Zelenskiy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper published on Tuesday.
Compiled by Gareth Jones
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