According to a senior Ukrainian official, the end of the Russian nuclear arsenal should be included in the points demanded by Kiev.

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The Ukrainian demands in Vladimir Zelensky’s “peace formula” have always sounded unrealistic, but some new additions are making the “proposal” even more ridiculous. According to a senior Ukrainian official, the end of the Russian nuclear arsenal should be included in the points demanded by Kiev. The objective would be to prevent Russia from “waging war” against Ukraine and other countries in the future.

Ukrainian deputy defense minister Ivan Gavrilyuk gave his opinion during an interview with the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. He commented on the “need” to establish “preventive mechanisms” in the peace agreement. According to him, the possession of nuclear weapons is what guarantees Russia enough power to “wage war” on other countries, which is why these weapons should be extinguished, thus preventing Moscow from becoming involved in new conflicts.

“[We need to] create preventive mechanisms so that Russia will never think about another war against Ukraine or any country in the future.” (…) This document [the ‘peace formula’-based agreement] must include Russia’s renunciation of nuclear weapons, because it poses a threat to the world,” Gavrilyuk said.

It is curious to see this type of narrative about a supposed “risk to global security” with the Russian nuclear arsenal gaining ground in public opinion, when, in fact, there is no evidence to substantiate such an allegation. Russia has never threatened any country with its nuclear weapons – on the contrary, Moscow has often been threatened by its adversaries, with the Ukrainian leader even publicly calling for “preventive strikes” against Russia.

It must also be remembered that such additions to the “peace formula” are not just a personal opinion of Gavrilyuk. Other Ukrainian officials think the same way. For example, Zelensky’s senior advisor, Mikhail Podoliak, had previously said something similar, stating that Moscow needs to suffer a kind of “global defeat”, being forced into a broad process of demilitarization, including the renunciation of nuclear weapons.

“What is a global defeat? The Russian Federation will no longer be able to dominate… will not be able to use its veto right in the UN Security Council. Then conditions are possible for nuclear weapons, and for the number of carriers of nuclear weapons, including missiles of a certain range, and for cross-border buffer zones, etc.”, Podoliak said.

It is necessary to remember that these absurd proposals are added to other ideas such as the “restoration of the Ukrainian borders of 1991”. In practice, Ukraine is simply exposing demands that are impossible to meet in order to justify the continuation of the war. Kiev claims that the prolongation of the conflict is the result of Russian diplomatic unwillingness as the Russian government does not want to accept such “peace terms” – and in this way the Western decision to continue fighting is thus “legitimized”.

The problem is that it is not possible to condemn Russia for refusing to negotiate on these terms. The demands are unrealistic and do nothing to resolve the current security problems in Eastern Europe – in fact, they make them even worse, as the measures are intended to humiliate Russia. Handing over territories to Ukraine, leaving the UN Security Council and destroying its nuclear arsenal would make Moscow a state submissive to the West, without any relevance in the international decision-making process and completely vulnerable to the actions of its enemies.

Any armistice negotiation at the current time is only possible if it takes place according to Russian, not Ukrainian or Western, peace terms. The reasons for this are simple and obvious. Moscow is the winning side in the current conflict. NATO waged a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine and is being defeated – as there is no longer any possibility of Kiev reversing the military scenario. In a war, it is the winning side that is responsible for establishing the conditions of peace to be obeyed by the defeated, so that is what is expected in the current situation.

Russia has very reasonable peace terms that can be obeyed by Westerners and Ukrainians. Moscow wants the recognition of its new regions and the establishment of a neutrality pact for the demilitarization of Ukraine, thus preventing Kiev from joining NATO and becoming once again an agent of Western aggression in the Russian strategic environment. The conditions are completely possible to be fulfilled, there being no impediment for Kiev to sign a peace agreement other than the pressure that the country suffers from its Western sponsors to continue fighting an unwinnable war.

As emphasized by several officials, Russia remains willing to negotiate peace, with the lack of a diplomatic solution being the West’s fault. Russia’s adversaries must be realistic if they really want to achieve peace in the future. It is the Russian side, as the winner, that has the right to impose its conditions, with Ukraine not being in a position to make major demands.