Military expert, flight instructor, and retired colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Roman Svitan commented in an interview with Fabryka News on Zelenskyy’s statement to French media that he allows for the possibility of starting negotiations with Russia.
Yevgeniya Kutnova: Please comment on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement to the French media, in which he stated that he allows for the possibility of starting negotiations with Russia without the precondition of returning territories. He also mentioned that the issue of possible territorial concessions to the Russian Federation should be decided through a referendum. He specifically said that the Ukrainian people must want the referendum, but this is not the best option for us because Putin will consider himself a winner.
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine will not give up its territories to the Russian Federation as it contradicts our Constitution, but we can regain our territories through diplomacy. This statement was immediately picked up by Russian media, which particularly write that he is preparing to hold a referendum. Some experts I spoke with today say that Zelensky did not directly say this in the interview, and others argue that this shifts responsibility onto the Ukrainian people. What do you think? How did you understand these words?
Roman Svitan: It’s very difficult to understand the random phrase generator that writes speeches for the President lately. There’s no action behind it, just a meaningless set of words. Why? According to the law on referendums, it is not allowed to submit questions about changing territorial integrity to a referendum. So, it’s unclear who came up with the idea that borders can be changed through a referendum.
The law directly prohibits it. Any mention of changing borders, losing sovereignty, or territorial integrity is a call to action, which falls under Article 110 of the Criminal Code, and the action itself would be Article 111 – treason. So, those generating these ideas and writing texts for the President make him look like a clown who doesn’t know his own laws.
The issue is more with these random phrase generators, who are likely bureaucratic rats. Whether out of ignorance, lack of intelligence, or malicious intent, they present the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in a very bad light.
Changing external borders through a referendum is impossible; the law on referendums strictly prohibits it. You can change internal borders, like regions or cities, as much as you want, but external borders are directly forbidden. So, this is just a meaningless set of words with no action behind it. The Security Service could pursue charges under Article 110 for incitement, but carrying out such actions is impossible.
Regarding peace negotiations with Russia, the same law prohibits this. A law was passed in 2022 or 2023 banning such contacts with Russians. Again, the random phrase generator writing speeches for the President either doesn’t know these laws or is acting out of ignorance, lack of intelligence, or malicious intent.
These bureaucratic rats need to be replaced entirely along with the aggressive leadership. Otherwise, such statements will make our President look like a clown, and no one will take us seriously as a country.
So, these questions, from the point of view of action analysis, cannot be addressed in any way. It is impossible to analyze them, as there are no actions. Analyzing, for example, a random set of phrases is more for a psychologist, probably. I don’t have that kind of education; I am not a medical professional.
Yevgeniya Kutnova: Roman Hryhorovych, you yourself mentioned that lately it has been difficult to analyze statements from the top political leadership. In one interview, they talk about the 1991 borders, and in another interview, they no longer mention the 1991 borders but instead talk about ending the hot phase of the war by the end of this year.
Later, they talk about developing a plan by the end of November, then they say we can regain our territories through diplomatic means. So if we gather all these statements together, I understand your point of view, which you have already expressed, but still, are Ukrainians being prepared for something, or what conclusion can be drawn? How can we make sense of this?
Roman Svitan: At the very least, statements like these lead to serious demotivation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. When someone behind you starts talking about negotiations, territorial concessions, and so on, it completely demotivates the soldiers carrying out combat missions. Additionally, it severely demotivates potential recruits who won’t join the army if they believe we’re just going to surrender. What’s the point then?
From this perspective, those responsible for these statements should be prosecuted under criminal laws for demotivation. Again, the people writing these speeches and creating this situation, as I’ve said before, are bureaucratic rats who need to be replaced.
The counterintelligence should have been working on these random phrase generators a long time ago. Their phrases can’t be analyzed in terms of actions because there are no actions behind them.
Immediately after such statements, within a day or two, surveys appear from organizations like KIIS (Kyiv International Institute of Sociology) or other agencies, showing increased percentages of the Ukrainian public supporting territorial concessions or negotiations with Russia.
Parallel to this, there’s pressure on society through rising electricity prices and warnings of an apocalyptic winter with power outages.
These rats are putting pressure on society, but no real actions will follow. Decisions are ultimately made by the Verkhovna Rada, and no one will allow them to pass laws that undermine territorial integrity.
Remember when Poroshenko tried to push through a special status for Donbas in the Rada? Grenades were thrown. This time, something more serious could happen.
There’s no mechanism for this because anyone proposing such laws would be charged under Article 111 for treason. Counterintelligence would arrest them before they could implement anything.
So, where the problem arises, it creates internal division, pressure; this is someone from these generators trying to create so-called chaos, attempting to make it controllable.
There is such a concept as controlled chaos. With these actions, they are trying to create such controlled chaos, while at the same time pursuing their own agendas. This generator should have been found long ago. It exists somewhere; counterintelligence should be dealing with this matter. But for this, we ultimately have authorities that we pay money to so they can find these generators of problems in Ukrainian society. Ultimately, it’s a counterintelligence issue.
Guys, it’s time to catch mice; it’s time for the cats to catch mice or at least rats.
Why?
Because serious pressure is already being created in society, negative towards the authorities.
And this is unacceptable during military actions. Because society needs to be consolidated. This is why I say that the government needs to be replaced, the executive power needs to be replaced with the military.
If you ask any military person, “Should we give up part of the territory and lose territorial integrity?” what would they answer? They went to war to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state.
This is enshrined in the oath to the people of Ukraine.
That’s why military personnel are needed during the war; military personnel are needed in the executive branch to ensure that such foolish ideas in offices and among office rats simply do not exist.
If the offices were led by military personnel, believe me, there would never even be a phrase about any referendum or changing territorial integrity.
