Polish FM Sees Little Hope for Ukraine Peace Talks as Putin Holds Out

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Wednesday he was not optimistic about the prospect of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, adding that Moscow continues to reject ceasefire proposals and has not softened its aims. Sikorski was speaking in Latvia, where he took part in a meeting with the foreign ministers of Latvia, Ireland, Finland and Hungary, with talks covering Ukraine, EU enlargement, Russian hybrid activity and the Middle East.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. His comments come days after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow and then Kyiv in a renewed peace push, meeting Vladimir Putin before holding talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Moscow talks produced no breakthrough, while Kyiv said it was ready to resume trilateral negotiations with the US and Russia. Speaking alongside Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže at the Ādaži military base on Wednesday, Sikorski said: “Putin still believes he has two cards to play—mobilization and a harsh winter. “So we must ensure that Ukraine’s cards—its ability to strike refineries and its ability to hold the front line—continue to be strengthened.” Sikorski added, “The bigger picture is that Russia does not understand the psychology of democracies. We are slow to mobilize. But once we do, we can mobilize enormous resources.” He also said Poland and Latvia faced many of the same Russian threats, including airspace violations, migration pressure, and sabotage. Other Topics of Interest Russian Drone Strike on Sumy Shopping Center Kills 2, Injures at Least 20 Two 21-year-olds were killed when a Russian drone struck a busy Sumy shopping center during the evening rush. ‘We’re not going to sit idly by.’ “We do not want to escalate the conflict, but Putin must know that we are not going to sit idly by and wait for his next move,” Sikorski said. NATO has a brigade based in Ādaži comprising nearly 3,000 troops, including more than 235 Polish soldiers. Poland has kept a military contingent in Latvia since 2017 as part of NATO’s strengthened eastern-flank presence. See the original of this report by Franciszek Józef Beszłej here. TVP World is Poland's first English-language channel where you can find our guest interviews, world news from the Polish perspective and the latest news from the CEE region.