On Wednesday, March 16, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said that peace talks with Russia were becoming “more realistic,” but that more time was needed for any settlement to be in Ukraine’s best interests.
After his staff stated a peace deal with Vladimir Putin to cease Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be struck within one or two weeks since Russian forces will run out of fresh troops and supplies by then, Zelensky made the early morning declaration.
‘The conversations are still going on, and from what I’ve heard, the stances in the negotiations are already sounding more reasonable.’ However, more time is required for choices to be made in Ukraine’s best interests,’ Zelenskiy said in a video message on Wednesday, ahead of the next round of discussions.
Meanwhile, one of Zelensky’s top aides, Oleksiy Arestovich, predicted that the battle would finish in weeks and that a peace deal would be reached when Putin’s soldiers ran out of supplies. He also warned that Russia could send in more troops to bolster their onslaught, perhaps prolonging the fight.
‘We’ve come to a fork in the road,’ Arestovich said. ‘Either a peace deal will be done very soon, within a week or two, with troop departure and everything, or there will be an attempt to cobble together some, say, Syrians for a round two, with an agreement by mid-April or late-April when we grind them too.’
‘I believe we should have a peace agreement by the end of May, early May.’ Perhaps a lot.