Oleksiy Goncharenko, the Ukrainian MP, who on Tuesday at the Council of Europe called for the recognition of Kosovo, said that this idea has support in his country, but that he is officially not ready for it to happen.
In KTV's "Interaktiv", Goncharenko, who sponsored a resolution in the Ukrainian Parliament for the recognition of Kosovo, requested that the 12 countries within the Council of Europe that still do not recognize Kosovo do so and support it on the way to European Union.
Asked if there are discussions about the recognition of Kosovo by Ukraine, Goncharenko said that the positions continue to be divided.
"For now, we do not have the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So the matter is still being discussed, but my position has not changed. I will continue to push this issue forward as I did today in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. So I hope that the day will come soon when Ukraine will finally fully recognize the independence of Kosovo", he said.
Goncharenko has said that the Ukrainian MFA is facing great challenges and does not intend to take steps that it considers radical.
"I think that explains why they take this stance. Because in general, with everyone I talk to in Ukraine, everyone understands the fact that Kosovo is already independent and deserves independence for the struggle of the people of Kosovo. And also that Kosovo supports Ukraine, in contrast for example with the Serbian position, which maintains an absolutely ambiguous position. So, in general, I see that people support the idea of recognition, but officially, I am afraid that they are not ready to do such a thing", Goncharenko continued.
Oleksiy Goncharenko, the Ukrainian deputy who also represents his country in the General Assembly of the Council of Europe, has said that Russia tries to use the Western Balkans to create new bloodshed, after the invasion of Ukraine.
"A new chaos and new problems for the world and the Western Balkans. For this, Russia tried to push a coup in Montenegro. This is why Russia is trying to use Serbia to destabilize the security situation, this is why Russia is destabilizing Bosnia and Herzegovina through people like Milorad Dodiku. So, it is clear that this is their plan and tactics", he said in KTV's "Interaktiv".
He described Kosovo's stance against Russia as an appropriate solution.
"I think it is a right choice by your people to be as far away from Russia as possible. Because Russia is completely diabolical," he said.
"Winter, Putin's best general"
Regarding the new Russian offensive against Ukrainian civilians, Goncharenko said that Russia "is using terrorist attacks, because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is too weak to win the war against the Ukrainian army."
"It can't do anything against the Ukrainian army, so it takes its revenge on women and children. Through this he also tries to show that he is still strong. First he wants to show it to the Russian people. Which is still strong and can cause pain. This is what happened. But we are not afraid. Naturally, this is worrying for us. We also knew that Russia would do everything it could to destroy our energy infrastructure so that Ukrainians would freeze during the winter. Putin considers Winter his best general and wants to use him as much as possible. So we generally knew this could happen. It is very painful because we are losing our people, infrastructure but we are still confident in our victory. We know that we will rebuild everything and we know that Russia will pay for the damages", said Goncharenko.
According to Goncharenko, currently Putin has started to look weaker among Russians and is trying to show his power with harsh attacks on civilians.
Commenting on Russia's new mass attacks, Goranchenko said that they were done with the aim of convincing Russian citizens "that Putin is still strong".
Goncharenko has said that many people in Russia are afraid of Putin, while there are many others who believe he is right to invade Ukraine.
Regarding the possible involvement of Belarus in the war, Goncharenko has said that it is Putin's goal to diffuse this war as much as possible.
"Today Belarus is occupied by Russia and this is part of the reality. Yes, Putin is trying with the greatest possible power to spread this war as widely as possible, including Belarus, Moldova, to install anxiety in the Balkans, wherever he can. This is the context and this is not a new thing. We knew this and who we were facing", he said, adding that he hopes that Belarus will be afraid to enter the war.
"Using a nuclear weapon, suicide for Putin"
Regarding a possible risk of using a nuclear weapon, Goncharenko has said that this is not impossible.
"The whole world must work to prevent such a thing. And that the only language that Putin understands is the language of force. So the signal should be clear, if Putin is going to use nuclear weapons it will be suicide for him personally. This is the only signal he will understand", said Goncharenko.