War should be over by early May – Ukrainian advisor

A Ukrainian government advisor said he expects the war to be over by early May at the latest, when Russia runs out of resources to attack its neighbour.

“I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement,” said Oleksiy Arestovich, an advisor to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, late on Monday.

He outlined two possible outcomes in the months ahead.

“There will either be a peace deal struck very quickly, within a week or two, with troop withdrawal and everything, or there will be an attempt to scrape together some, say, Syrians for a round two and, when we grind them too, an agreement by mid-April or late April,” he said.

The Pentagon had earlier claimed that Russia is trying to recruit Syrians to fight in Ukraine – though this has not been verified.

Arestovich is not personally involved in the talks between Ukraine and Russia.