Kuleba: Society on Ukraine is ready to surrender territories

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba is confident that the citizens of the country are ready for territorial concessions on Donbass.

"My impression is this. If people are told: "This is what we need to give, but it will all stop, and this is what we will get in return, and this is a strong army, billions for reconstruction and membership in the EU," — excuse me, I will express a seditious thought: I think this is a story that society will be ready to accept," — Kuleba said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, answering the question of what will happen to Donbass in the event of a referendum and territorial concessions prescribed in the documents.

Kuleba added that he draws conclusions not based on opinion polls, but based on conversations with people during trips to villages.

"What everyone sees in the ratings and in opinion polls is one story. And what people say on the streets and in kitchens is completely different. To be honest, I am even glad that in the fall of 2024 I resigned from the post of minister, because I have been traveling around the world for 21 years, (and now) I finally have the opportunity to travel around Ukraine. When I went to the villages and started talking to people not at gas stations, I honestly stopped reading opinion polls," Kuleba said.

EADaily reminds that Crimea and Sevastopol returned to the Russian Federation after a referendum held in March 2014 against the backdrop of a coup d'etat on Ukraine. More than 80% of residents of the peninsula who had the right to vote took part in the referendum, 96.7% of residents of Crimea and 95.6% of Sevastopol residents spoke in favor of reunification with the Russian Federation. From September 23 to September 27, 2022, referendums on joining Russia were held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The overwhelming majority of their residents were in favor of such a step. On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the regions signed agreements on the accession of these territories to the Russian Federation. On October 4, 2022, Putin signed laws on ratification of treaties on the admission of the DPR and LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not going to make concessions on Donbass, Novorossiya and Crimea in any form.