Former Ukrainian Prime Minister: Kyiv has never understood Putin.
The former Ukrainian Prime Minister stated that President Putin has never opposed an independent and neutral Ukraine.
According to RIA Novosti on June 29, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has never been an opponent of the Ukrainian state regarding its neutrality, but Kyiv currently fails to understand this.
“President Vladimir Putin has never opposed Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence. He has repeatedly stated that Ukraine should live up to the 1990 Declaration of State Sovereignty. The core of it is: Ukraine is a neutral, non-nuclear state, living peacefully with all its neighbors,” the former Ukrainian Prime Minister wrote on Telegram.
Politician Azarov noted that the 2014 coup became a point of no return in relations between Russia and Ukraine, because that was when "the idea of complete hostility towards Moscow began to be implemented in Kyiv."
According to Azarov, the Ukrainian authorities, who are now responsible for the country's future, strongly reject Russia's peace initiatives.
"Therefore, the question of Ukraine's future fate should be posed to the leaders of the Kyiv regime. They have brought it to a situation of military conflict, fulfilling the wishes of their Western 'masters'," said former Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov.
Speaking at the plenary session of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had tried to resolve the issue with Ukraine peacefully, but Kyiv had consistently refused to stop.
President Putin also stated that Russia is not seeking to surrender to Ukraine, but emphasized the recognition of the territories on the ground. Furthermore, he noted that the Ukrainian armed forces are short of military personnel in key areas of the front, and that Russian troops are advancing along the entire contact line every day.
Earlier, in an interview with Sky News Arabia, President Putin emphasized that Ukraine should return to where its statehood began, specifically to the points of its declaration of independence regarding neutrality, non-alignment, and nuclear-free status.
