Peace in exchange for Crimea and NATO: The US expects a response from Kyiv this week
21 April 09:37
This week, the US expects Kyiv to respond to ideas for ending the war. In particular, the refusal to join NATO and the possible recognition of Crimea as Russian by the United States. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to The Wall Street Journal.
According to Western officials, the ideas were outlined in a confidential document that senior Trump administration officials presented to the Ukrainian side in Paris on Thursday. They were also shown to European officials at a one-day meeting.
The US is now waiting for Kyiv’s response, which is expected to come at a meeting of US, Ukrainian and European officials in London later this week. Then, if the three sides agree, the proposals can be passed on to Moscow.
What the United States is offering
According to the newspaper, the ideas presented in Paris include recognizing Crimea as Russian, excluding Ukraine’s accession to NATO, and declaring the area around the nuclear power plant a neutral territory that could be under Washington’s control.
At the same time, according to Western officials, the ideas put forward by representatives of the Trump team do not meet a number of Russian demands. In particular, the United States does not recognize that Russia has the legal right to control four regions in the eastern part of Ukraine (Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions). At the same time, Washington does not demand that Russian troops leave these areas. Bloomberg previously reported that the United States would consider recognizing Crimea as Russian.
“Accepting some of the Trump administration’s ideas could prove difficult for Kyiv, as Ukraine has refused to recognize that Russia has a legitimate claim to any of its territory,” the WSJ writes.
The US also does not seem to be proposing to limit the number of Ukrainian troops and does not rule out Western military support for Kyiv or the deployment of European troops in the country.
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Chronicle of US-Russian talks
on February 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Prime Minister’s aide Yuri Ushakov met in Saudi Arabia with an American delegation, represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Volz, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Vitkoff.
After the talks, the US State Department reported that the delegations agreed to “eliminate irritants” in bilateral relations and continue to work on preparing talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The parties also agreed to appoint high-level groups for further negotiations on Ukraine.
The media reported that the US and Russia discussed a three-stage peace plan for Ukraine, which consists of the following stages:
- A ceasefire.
- Holding elections in Ukraine.
- Conclusion of a peace agreement.
on February 27, negotiations between the Americans and Russians continued in Istanbul. According to the Russian side, they discussed the normalization of diplomatic relations. The Kremlin also allegedly demanded the return of 6 properties that had been seized from Russians in the United States in 2016-2018, and also proposed to resume air travel.
on March 13, Putin met in Moscow with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. The parties did not make any statements about the results of the meeting, except for the words of Trump’s national security adviser Mike Volz that there are grounds for cautious optimism.
on March 25, the US agreed with Ukraine and Russia to ban attacks in the Black Sea.
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