In an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that any potential peace agreement with Russia would not be truly legitimate even if it were approved by the Verkhovna Rada. In his view, any new political force that comes to power after future parliamentary elections could simply walk away from the deal.

Kuleba argued that in such a scenario the agreement’s legitimacy would be «limping», because once the next election campaign begins, new parties would be able to distance themselves from the document and claim it is not their agreement and that they never signed up to it.

For this reason, he believes that full legitimisation of a peace deal on Ukraine is only possible through a nationwide referendum. Parliamentary ratification, he stressed, is merely a temporary confirmation that lasts until the next electoral cycle, whereas real protection for the agreement comes from a direct vote by Ukrainian citizens.

In his opinion, approving the document in a referendum is a way to shield the country from being «torn to pieces» by domestic politicians. Once an agreement has been endorsed by the population, Kuleba argued, it becomes much harder for those seeking power to build their campaigns on slogans that portray the deal as bad and promise to replace it with something supposedly better.

Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky had stated that territorial issues concerning Ukraine could be decided only by referendum. However, later, at a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump, he shifted his position and allowed for the possibility that a peace agreement with Moscow could instead be approved by a vote in the Verkhovna Rada.