Former Ukrainian Prime Minister: Kiev never understood Mr. Putin
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister said that President Putin has never opposed an independent and neutral Ukraine.
According to RIA Novosti on June 29, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has never been an opponent of the Ukrainian state in the issue of the country's neutral status, but Kiev currently does not understand this.
“President Vladimir Putin has never opposed Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence. He has repeatedly said that Ukraine should live according to the Declaration of State Sovereignty of 1990. Its bottom line: Ukraine is a neutral, non-nuclear state, living in peace with all its neighbors,” the former Prime Minister of Ukraine wrote on Telegram.
Politician Azarov noted that it was the 2014 coup that became the point of no return in relations between Russia and Ukraine, because that was when “ideas completely hostile to Moscow began to be implemented in Kiev.”
According to Mr. Azarov, the Ukrainian authorities are now responsible for the future of the country, which has strongly rejected Russia's peace initiatives.
“Therefore, the question of the further fate of Ukraine should be posed to the leaders of the Kiev regime. They brought it to a military conflict situation, carrying out the will 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 Kiev repeatedly refused to stop.
President Putin also said that Russia does not seek to surrender Ukraine, but insists on recognizing the territories on the ground. In addition, he said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces lack military personnel in the main areas of the front, and Russian troops advance along the entire line of contact every day.
Earlier, in an interview with Sky News Arabia, President Putin stressed that Ukraine should return to where its statehood began, namely the points of the declaration of independence on neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free status.
