London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2025

Time for Ukraine to talk to Russia? ‘Nuts!’

Time for Ukraine to talk to Russia? ‘Nuts!’

‘Ukrainians do not want any negotiations,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says. This time, he’s right.

“One thing is for sure: the Ukrainians do not want any negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday in Moscow.And never has he uttered a truer word.They don’t.

No one wants to sit down with foes who bomb their homes indiscriminately and target their energy infrastructure, plunging households into darkness and forcing surgeons in hospitals to perform operations by torchlight.

And as the remains of civilians tortured by Russian soldiers occupying the southern city of Kherson are unearthed, the cold fury Ukrainians felt at the documented abuses — from rape to casually gunning down non-combatants in Bucha and Irpin — only intensifies.

Behind the scenes, officials from the United States and Europe have been urging Ukraine to keep the door open to negotiations, though they won’t try to force Kyiv into anything. However, on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answered those hints and hardly subtle nudges, telling G20 leaders not to offer his country any peace deal that would compromise its independence from Russia.

He then presented a 10-point peace plan demanding Russia accept responsibility and accountability for war crimes committed on Ukrainian soil. He also called for the withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukraine’s territory — i.e., all of the Donbas and the peninsula of Crimea — as well as the payment of war reparations and compensation for the destruction and deaths caused.

It was Zelenskyy’s equivalent of U.S. General Anthony McAuliffe’s single-word reply in response to a German surrender demand during the 1944 Battle of the Bulge — “Nuts!”

The differences here, of course, are that Zelenskyy and his people aren’t surrounded, and they’ve pulled off two stunning battlefield victories near Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine and, more recently, in the Kherson region.

As the battlefield stands, the victory in Kherson this month has blocked any chance of Russian forces seizing Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, including Odesa, and it brings occupied Crimea within range of Ukrainian artillery and rockets.

Nuts!” also fairly sums up the reaction of “ordinary” Ukrainians I spoke with this week, as to whether they would endorse peace negotiations — and whether they’d be willing to trade any land in the Donbas, or the whole of Crimea, for peace.

Yuliya Grigor, whose soldier husband is currently undergoing treatment for severe shell shock, said Ukraine can win this fight, if the West stays true and constant. The 35-year-old charity worker, who is from Mauripol but now lives in Lviv, said, “Russians don’t understand that however many missiles they throw at us, we won’t give in, surrender or negotiate. And they can’t divide us.”

“We don’t have anything to talk about. Putin doesn’t understand Ukraine is a separate, sovereign country and is united. Anyway, he doesn’t even know the meaning of the word peace. So, there is no sense in talking with them,” she added.

I then asked about a land deal — Donbas and/or Crimea for peace. Her reply? “These regions are Ukrainian. How can we trade land?”

Yuliya isn’t alone in her vehemence. I interviewed a dozen others in the underground parking lot of a Lviv shopping mall that now serves as a bomb shelter, and they all offered similarly uncompromising answers.


“One thing is for sure: the Ukrainians do not want any negotiations”

A group of men in their fifties simply harrumphed and shook their heads when I mentioned the recent remarks by top U.S. military commander General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said that Ukraine may not be able to achieve victory militarily, and that winter may provide an opportunity to begin negotiations with Russia.

Pointing out that the collective Western military assessment at the start of the war — namely that Ukraine would have to surrender or would be overrun within days — proved inaccurate, 58-year-old Oleh said, “I disagree, and there can be no talks, no agreements because Russia will always break any deals; you can’t trust them. All countries recognized Ukraine’s borders in 1991, and this is our country. We can win if the U.S. and Europe continue to help us.” His four friends nodded in agreement.

Whether young or old, or eastern or western Ukrainian, everyone I spoke to in the parking lot offered similar responses, with most saying Russia would only see negotiations as a sign of weakness, would rearm, and later try to grab more of Ukraine. Only one young woman hinted that she might be ready to see Crimea traded for an end to the war.

While no one wants a prolonged war, both growing confidence and anger with what months of war have done to Ukraine, and the pain it has caused — the loss of life, the widespread damage and broken up families — have left many in no mood to concede anything to Russia to end the fighting. Their fear is that any peace deal that isn’t on their terms will lock them in a permanent conflict, leaving Ukraine as a forever “in-between” country, not fully European and just a plaything for the Kremlin to prod and torture.

The late American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who played a key role in negotiating the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian War, used to say that warring parties could only strike a peace deal when both are exhausted.

And Ukraine is certainly not exhausted — despite persistent missile strikes on the country’s power grid, despite the cold and anxiety about the looming long winter, with temperatures of -20-degrees Celsius.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy adviser Andriy Yermak called the continuing strikes on energy targets the “naïve tactics of cowardly losers,” adding that “Ukraine has already withstood extremely difficult strikes by the enemy, which did not lead to results the Russian cowards hoped for.”

Opinion in both the country’s political circles and on the street has only stiffened since March, when the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia held tentative talks in Turkey, marking the first high-level discussions between the two countries since the all-out invasion. Then, after a 90-minute dialogue, both sides said there had been no breakthrough. “I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

That same month, Zelenskyy told German broadcasters he was willing to consider some compromise, although he’d already ruled out any ceding of territory or accepting Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Zelenskyy’s now expressing Ukraine’s collective dismissal of any compromised deal. And judging by his G20 peace plan, he expects Russia to throw in the towel — or that, simply put, negotiations now would be “Nuts!”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
×