[Tee tiong huat]

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inches toward the three-year mark, all eyes are on a potential peace agreement to end the war.

If the parameters of any peace deal are likely to remain obscured for months to come, Ukraine’s ex-Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says one thing is clear — Russia is not going to ask for peace.

“Russia wants to be begged (to engage in the peace talks),” Kuleba told the Kyiv Independent in an interview late last year.

Kuleba worked as a minister for over four years through most of Russia’s full-scale invasion until his resignation in September during the biggest wartime government reshuffle.