War will end with restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity - Kuleba

According to Ukrinform, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this in an interview with the Arabic TV channel Akhbar Al Aan.

"There cannot be any concessions on the issue of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. On other issues, we can negotiate. But this is something that should not be considered as a maximalist position. This is a very legitimate position protected by international law," Kuleba said.

He added that Russia should not play this game, demanding that Ukraine "has to be more constructive and make concessions." "Because it's not us who came to their home. It's them who came to our home," Kuleba said.

He recalled that Russian troops undertake assaults on Ukrainian positions in the south and east of Ukraine every day, launch missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities. And this behavior of Russia only proves that it is not ready for negotiations and restoration of peace. "When you sincerely want to restore peace, you act in good faith, you simply do not behave like this. You do not hit peaceful cities with missiles, you do not try to deprive innocent civilians of electricity, water and heating supply in the middle of winter. […] Russia is seeking war, not peace," Kuleba said.

He noted that Russia's goal is to "destroy the state of Ukraine and to return the people of Ukraine under the Russian rule." Everything else is "just a smokescreen for Russian true political and military goals."

Kuleba said that Ukraine did not want this war and it was imposed on it. "We are fighting back exercising the right to self-defense envisaged by the UN Charter," he said.

Kuleba earlier said that Ukraine plans to hold an international summit by the end of February 2023 to discuss a peace formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.