The head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, in an interview with the Strait Times called the quality that a potential mediator in the peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow must have. According to him, the main thing is that he has sufficient influence on Russia.

The minister clarified that Kyiv needs evidence that Russia will be able to coexist peacefully with Ukraine in the future. He stressed that, first of all, Russian troops should be withdrawn from the territory of Ukraine. Reznikov added that the negotiator who can guarantee Moscow's compliance with this condition will prove that he has sufficient influence on Russia.

“And if not, excuse me, why are we going to sit and waste time?” he asked.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned of the West's readiness to continue the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and noted that this could happen due to the supply of F-16 aircraft to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).