A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
How do Ukraine's long-range strikes play into its efforts to end the war with Russia? NPR's Joanna Kakissis spoke to one of Ukraine's top peace negotiators in Kyiv.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Sergiy Kyslytsya was in New York. He was serving as Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations. That day, he sat across the table from his Russian counterpart. He leaned into his microphone and did not hold back.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SERGIY KYSLYTSYA: There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador.
KAKISSIS: The war severed official diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Russia.
KYSLYTSYA: I was the only Ukrainian ambassador who had to go regularly and sit in the same room with the Russians. My fellow ambassadors in all capitals around the world would not talk to them. So by the time I was part of our negotiating team, I already knew how to control my feelings and my attitude.
KAKISSIS: Kyslytsya has been part of Ukraine's negotiating team since 2025 and is also the first deputy head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office.
(CROSSTALK)
KAKISSIS: We meet Kyslytsya in the well-guarded presidential compound in Kyiv, where his 13-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Dezi, runs to greet us.
Aw, look at the little sweetie pie.
The last U.S.-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Geneva in February.
KYSLYTSYA: That does not, however, mean that we are not in active communication with the Americans and occasionally with the Russians.
KAKISSIS: Ukraine's message, Kyslytsya says, has remained the same.
KYSLYTSYA: The easiest way to stop this war is to stay where we are at the moment.
KAKISSIS: He says the Kremlin continues to make unrealistic demands, like pushing Ukraine to hand over land not occupied by Russia, even as the war's dynamics have changed.
KYSLYTSYA: It's not longer the war of infantry. It's not longer the war of artillery. It is the war of the 21st century, and we have the upper hand.
KAKISSIS: Ukraine's long-range drones are regularly hitting Russian oil and gas facilities, causing fuel shortages in Russia and weakening Russia's ability to wage war.
KYSLYTSYA: The situation in the battlefield on the ground is basically stuck. There are no meaningful advances of the Russian army, and that became very apparent not only to Ukrainians, but also to our partners and to the United States.
KAKISSIS: Even President Trump said recently that Ukraine is flexing its muscle. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy proposed face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, something Kyslytsya says is essential and could even happen later this year.
KYSLYTSYA: In Russia, this war is a decision of just one person. In Russia, this war can be stopped at any given moment by just one person.
KAKISSIS: Last month, Putin said he saw no point in meeting. But if the war continues on its current trajectory, he may find diplomacy a more attractive bet.
KYSLYTSYA: Because if we keep doing what we do with long-range strikes, sooner or later, the Russian leader would have only one choice, to sit down and discuss how to stop this war.
KAKISSIS: Kyslytsya says he believes even Putin has realized that Ukraine has the cards.
Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kyiv.
(SOUNDBITE OF GECKO AND TOKAGE PARADE'S "C") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
