German president: Ukraine should independently decide on negotiations with Russia

Ukraine should independently decide on peace negotiations with Russia, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview with ARD TV channel, Report informs.

He noted that Ukrainian society should be able to independently make a decision in connection with the start of negotiations on a ceasefire.

“We cannot decide for Ukraine,” Steinmeier stressed, adding that Kyiv “should say when it wants to hold such talks and whether it considers them promising.”

He added that the initiation of negotiations is not done in order to force Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table, but in order to enlist the constant support of other countries that have not previously helped Ukraine in the war against the Russian Federation.