Ukraine says 'no room for peace negotiations' with Russia for now

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 29) — Ukraine sees a very slim chance for peace negotiations with Russia to prosper at the moment due to conflicting demands from both sides before entering the negotiating table.

The statement comes following China's recent peace proposal to end the year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russian President Vladimir Putin last week offering to play a constructive role in promoting peace and political settlement of the Ukraine issue.

"Unfortunately there is no room for peace negotiations now because our pre-condition is to liberate our territories and the Russian pre-condition is the destruction of Ukrainian statehood and depriving the right of a nation to exist and wants us to accept that we are Russians," said Ukrainian Embassy in Malaysia Charges d'Affaires Denys Mykhailiuk.

Mykhailiuk and Ukrainian diplomats had a four-day visit to Manila to meet with their counterparts to discuss Philippine-Ukraine ties.

Ukraine said that even Russia is not ready to engage in peace talks.

"I think Russia is not ready for negotiations as well and I don't see the political room for negotiations now because the demand for conflicting partners is not even contradictory, they are unmatchable," Mykhailiuk added.

"Every war will end on the table of negotiations but before that, Russian forces should be destroyed in Ukrainian territory and should be brought to their home."

Ukraine said around 170,000 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the invasion.

Kyiv also slammed Moscow's plan to move nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus.

"We condemn this strongly and we call on our partners including the Philippines to condemn this move towards proliferation of nuclear weapons," Mykhailiuk stressed.