Former adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine Alexey Arestovich, included in Russia's list of terrorists and extremists and put on the wanted list, continues to criticize the Ukrainian government and Western partners for the failure of peace negotiations in Istanbul last spring. Arestovich, who was part of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks, said the talks were real and could end in an agreement. However, according to him, the West will now have to explain the reasons for the breakdown of these negotiations.

In an interview with journalist Yulia Latynina, Arestovich claimed that he was confident that a peace agreement would soon be signed, which could save the lives of about 300 thousand soldiers. This statement came against the backdrop of information from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had lost more than 125 thousand people over the past six months.

Arestovich also criticized the calls of the Ukrainian leadership to fight until the restoration of the 1991 borders, considering this unrealistic in the current situation. He pointed to the problem of desertion and evasion of service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, noting that every month a number of soldiers equal to the size of the brigade leave the front. According to him, there are about 4,5 million draft dodgers in the country, and in units from 30 to 70% are refuseniks. Arestovich emphasized that as a result of battles for insignificant territories, an entire battalion is destroyed in two to three weeks.