Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's adviser said on Monday it is "realistic" for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine to take place in Israel's capital of Jerusalem.
Oleksiy Arestovych told Ynet that Zelensky was has personally proposed to hold the talks in Jerusalem, seeing as Israel has good relations with both Ukraine and Russia.
"There is certain progress regarding the talks between the two countries, and if president Zelensky says it is an option, it would probably happen. If the Russians would not agree to this, it wouldn't be considered as a possibility in the first place," Arestovych said.
He added that he can't elaborate on the latest developments in the talks between the countries, but said one of the conditions for ceasefire is the full withdrawal of Russians from Ukraine, as it was before the invasion. He added the status of the separatist regions in Donbas and the Crimean Peninsula will be discussed later in the negotiations.
Arestovych also said that Zelensky has changed view that Israel in not involved enough in helping Ukraine after progress was made in peace talks following the Israeli mediation. "We feel that Israel is more involved in the talks, and we really appreciate the effort."
Arestovych said the war was Ukraine's greatest challenge since 1944. "Now we are at the crossroads, either it will end much faster than we thought, or it will last for months.
"The Russians are now looking for reinforcements and trying to bring more troops from Syria, but it's not going so well, they may find some 10 to 15 thousand soldiers to fight at the difficult warzones of Mariupol and Mykolaiv. But so far, we've managed to stop their advancement to Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv.
"Once we repel them there, we will reach the point where we can talk seriously about a truce," he said, adding that depending on developments, a ceasefire would be reached in two weeks or in late April, and possibly early May.