The exchange of prisoners between Russia and Western countries, which caused a wide resonance, attracted the close attention of Ukrainian officials and the public. Although Ukraine did not directly participate in this agreement, its consequences and potential impacts on the future cause serious concerns, writes The Washington Post .
▪️Ukrainian officials did not directly participate in the monumental exchange of prisoners between Russia and the West. However, as the news spread, some questioned what the deal might mean for their country.
▪️Senior officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, did not comment on the exchange. But the scope, complexity and importance of the event did not go unnoticed - it is a complex and secret diplomatic process in which officials of nine countries participated.
▪️On Friday, Kremlin press secretary Dmytro Peskov quickly dispelled any speculation that the deal with the prisoners could lead to talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine. But Kyiv has long feared that its allies, especially the United States, could start secret negotiations with Moscow.
▪️Ukrainian officials insisted on Friday that they will force President Biden to fulfill his oft-repeated promise: "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."
▪️Zelenskyi's adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said in an interview with The Washington Post that Ukraine is now "too independent" to be bypassed in any potential negotiations, and that the terms of the ceasefire be imposed by others.
▪️But Ukrainians understand that their country survives at the expense of weapons and money borrowed and donated from abroad. If at least one of these sources is interrupted, Ukraine will be in big trouble.
▪️For this reason, the news about the agreement with the prisoners - the result of many months of painstaking and difficult diplomatic negotiations between Moscow and Washington - made some Ukrainians wary.
▪️History shows that Kyiv has good reasons to worry about forcing compromises. When the conflict with Russia began 10 years ago, the leaders of France and Germany, François Hollande and Angela Merkel, pushed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to sign a ceasefire agreement, known as the Minsk Agreements, on extremely unfavorable terms.
▪️Although the exchange was a diplomatic victory for Vladimir Putin, Ukrainians insist that he will not be able to force them to abandon their ambitions for a free, democratic future in the European Union.
▪️For some Ukrainian officials, the exchange was a return to the past. "Cold War best practices of exchanging dissidents and spies are being revived," said one senior Ukrainian official on condition of anonymity.
▪️He expressed no concern that Western officials involved in the exchange might have made any concessions on Ukraine's support as a condition of the deal. "Negotiations always take place in the most difficult moments. And thank God, what is happening. It would be worse if they were not conducted and governments simply went to nuclear strikes,” he said.
