Ukraine was forced to rule out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Moscow after some in the West suggested it as a way to speed up peace negotiations and the end of the war.
Kyiv's lead negotiator, Volodymyr Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, ruled out any territorial concessions and rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire in an interview with Reuters on Saturday, saying any concessions would backfire because Russia would use the break in fighting to come back stronger.
Recent calls for an immediate ceasefire have come from US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
An editorial piece in the New York Times last week also suggested that “a decisive military victory for Ukraine over Russia, in which Ukraine regains all the territory Russia has seized since 2014, is not a realistic goal".
French President Emmanuel Macron also reportedly asked Mr Zelensky to....
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