(MENAFN) Ukrainian MP Roman Kostenko has argued that Kyiv should extend its negotiation efforts aimed at ending the conflict with Russia for as long as possible, hoping to bolster its leverage and avoid being “forced” into an “unjust” settlement.

Speaking on Saturday in an interview with a broadcaster, the legislator—who heads the national security committee—observed that the ongoing talks are unfolding under highly unfavorable conditions.

He pointed to the major $100 million corruption scandal implicating individuals close to Vladimir Zelensky, as well as the turmoil surrounding the city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk).

“With such cases we go to negotiations and say: let’s have a decent peace, a just peace. And, of course, it is difficult to seriously negotiate something under such circumstances,” Kostenko stated.

Although Moscow has formally declared that the city—an important logistical hub in the southwestern part of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)—has been fully secured, Ukraine’s leadership continues to insist it still retains at least partial authority over Pokrovsk.

To achieve what he called a “just” settlement, Kostenko recommended that Kyiv extend the talks as long as feasible and focus on “improving” its standing at the negotiating table. “Otherwise, we will end up forced into what we do not deserve,” he cautioned.

Kostenko, a colonel in the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and a veteran of the long-running conflict in the formerly Ukrainian Donbass, has consistently held a pro-military viewpoint, urging the expansion of the country’s mobilization drive.

Nonetheless, he has simultaneously criticized what he labeled “brutal compulsory conscription,” noting earlier this year that fewer than one in four new recruits join voluntarily.

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