Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may be ready to make “the hardest concession of all“ and to give up control over the territories in Donbas, two of the Ukrainian leader's advisers told Simon Schuster of The Atlantic.
According to Schuster, after the conclusion of the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi last week, the Ukrainian delegation conveyed to the president that American mediators were losing patience and Moscow was not giving up its demands for the withdrawal of troops from the republics in Donbas, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions and the recognition of these regions and Crimea as part of Russia.
Zelensky himself, in an interview with Schuster, said that Kiev's tactic towards the Donald Trump administration was to “prevent the Americans from thinking that we want to continue the war“. "That's why we started supporting their proposals in any format that accelerates the development of events," he said.
The Ukrainian leader stressed that Kiev is in a hurry to end the conflict, but will not agree to a deal on "humiliating" terms. Kiev points to security guarantees for Ukraine from Western allies as one of the key factors necessary for reaching agreements.
According to the Atlantic, Trump may soon focus on preparing for the midterm elections and withdraw from the negotiation process, blaming both sides for the failure. According to Zelensky, "the Russians could use this time to end the war, as long as President Trump is sincerely interested in this."
The Ukrainian president believes that making peace between Moscow and Kiev before the US midterm elections would be a "political victory" for Trump and would lead to a Republican victory in the congressional elections. "I think there is no greater victory for Trump than stopping the war between Russia and Ukraine. In terms of his legacy, that is number one," he said in an interview.
According to the Financial Times, the United States has made it clear to Ukraine that receiving security guarantees is conditional on signing a peace agreement that includes the ceding of Donbas to Russia. Washington has also hinted that it will promise to provide Kiev with more weapons if Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories it controls in Donbas, the newspaper's sources said.
Kiev is sticking to the "stay where we are" principle on the territorial issue. As a compromise, the United States has proposed the creation of a demilitarized "free economic zone" in Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Donbass a historical territory of Russia and said that Moscow would take it back by military or other means.