Ahead of potentially critical meetings this week in Europe, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin granted the Kyiv Post an interview on Jan. 17 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss a wide range of issues — the stalled peace talks with Russia, Ukraine’s plan for the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week, the difficulties he faced under ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and his personal feelings as a Russian native in his job as Ukraine’s top diplomat.

Klimkin, 47, said the clear aim of the renewed Russian-backed military offensive in the eastern Donbas region “is to definitely disrupt the Minsk agreement” and try to force renegotiation of the September blueprint for ending the war.