"How can we convince President Biden today to invest in the liberation of Donbas and then in its restoration? Everything is clear with Crimea – it is of geostrategic importance. Or imagine that I am President Xi [Xi Jinping], convince me in a couple of minutes why I should put pressure on Putin to leave Donbas to Ukraine. How can I do that if it's not clear what's wrong with the people, what the model is? We don't need to be convinced – Ukraine is above all for us, but not for them," Klimkin said, stressing that Ukraine should bring advocacy for the return of the temporarily occupied territories to the international level and convince the world "that Donbas, its liberation and then reset is a priority that the West cannot live without".
In response, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksiy Kuleba brought up the issue of Ukraine's border as of 1991: "And we must defend this position and no other. We have to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine without any nuances."
In addition, Kuleba believes that the best argument for international partners is the willingness of Ukrainians to fight for their territories.
"As for whom to convince and how. We can talk a lot about how we can't cope without the help of international partners, we can talk about geopolitics, but if we are not strong, as strong as we were during the full-scale invasion – when we all were as one and people were very clear that we are all fighting for our country, we are Ukrainians and we will do everything to protect our country. Only when we are united in our desire to liberate our homeland will we be able to do it," Kuleba added.