Entering a peace agreement with Russia would be like entering "an agreement with the devil", says President Zelensky's closest adviser Mychailo Podolyak to the news agency AP.
If you want to enter an agreement with the devil who will then take you to hell, so be it. That's what Russia is.
If you sign something with Russia today....it will mean that you have signed a ticket to continue the war on a different scale, with different main characters, with a different number of killed and tortured people, says Podolyak in an interview with the news agency.
A settlement would only give Russia's President Vladimir Putin time to strengthen his army and initiate a new, potentially more violent chapter in the war, believes Mychailo Podolyak.
This is an opinion shared by Zelensky's camp and reflected broadly among Ukrainians. But at the same time, war fatigue is spreading in the country.
In a recent opinion poll from the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, it was shown that the number of Ukrainians opposing territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for peace has continued to decline. In July, the proportion was 55 percent, compared to 74 percent in December.