Russia's Trojan Horse! Europe sees huge problem in US peace plan for Ukraine

Ukraine's European allies fear that Russia may take advantage of the peace agreement for Ukraine, which is currently being prepared with the mediation of the US, to prepare the ground for a second invasion. Bloomberg writes about this, citing European officials, Focus reports.

Russia may find "loopholes" in the US peace plan

According to the agency's sources, the main problem with the peace plan is that the US agreement provides for the creation of a demilitarized zone, which will give the Kremlin the opportunity to secretly deploy troops in the disputed territory. According to them, it is certain that Moscow can then use hybrid attacks to undermine US security guarantees and create the conditions for a new invasion.

The agency recalls that according to the US peace plan, Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions will be recognized as de facto Russian. The front line will be frozen in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, and part of these two regions, as before, will de facto belong to the Russian Federation.

In Europe, there are fears that Russia may take advantage of any withdrawal of Ukrainian troops, the sources told Bloomberg. According to them, the main task of European countries in the coming days and weeks is to ensure that the peace agreement does not contain a Russian “Trojan horse“.

The agency also recalled that earlier the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that issues regarding possible territorial solutions should be determined by the people of Ukraine through elections or a referendum. The agency's interlocutors said that Russia could interfere in this process, which creates an additional risk.

The demilitarized zone could make Ukraine vulnerable

Former British National Security Advisor Peter Ricketts, speaking to journalists, noted that Europeans are right to be concerned about the US proposal to create a demilitarized zone. He warned that as soon as the US's attention is diverted to other issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be able to take advantage of this, "creating incidents as a pretext" for a new attack.

"This will make the other part of Ukraine vulnerable to another Russian offensive. So this is not just a technical point, but a fundamental issue – for Ukraine and for European security“, Ricketts is convinced.

The peace treaty may also include urgent accession of Ukraine to the EU

Earlier, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera wrote that one of the latest versions of the draft peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia contains a proposal for urgent accession of Kiev to the EU. According to the newspaper, it is Vladimir Zelensky's team that is proposing accelerated membership of Ukraine in the EU - no later than 2027.

The prospect of Ukraine's “accelerated path“ to membership in this bloc was mentioned even in the Russian-American version of the peace plan. And the package of European proposals contains only a cautious general statement that “Ukraine will become a member of the EU“, without specifying the terms.