Putin’s bold demands to Ukraine: what the Kremlin wants to achieve at the meeting with Trump
15 January 22:39
Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin will demand that Ukraine abruptly sever military ties with NATO and become a neutral state with a limited army in his upcoming talks with US President-elect Donald Trump. Bloomberg writes about this, citing its own sources, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
The agency notes that Putin is becoming increasingly confident in his superiority on the battlefield in Ukraine. Therefore, he intends to achieve his goal of Kyiv never joining NATO and of putting restrictions on its military potential.
“The Kremlin’s position is that while individual NATO members may continue to send weapons to Ukraine under bilateral security agreements, any such weapons should not be used against Russia or to regain territory,” said a source with knowledge of Moscow’s preparations for possible talks.
Bloomberg notes that such tough demands will definitely not please Ukraine. Putin’s position also runs counter to Trump’s stated desire to end the war as soon as possible and may be aimed at giving Moscow leeway in the negotiations. At the same time, Russia’s gains in eastern Ukraine are slow and come at a high price.
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Bloomberg’s source also claims that Ukraine and Russia are holding limited talks in Qatar on rules for protecting nuclear facilities from attack.
Instead, Ukrainian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim that the only talks between Kyiv and Moscow are currently limited to the exchange of prisoners and the return of children.
The agency notes that Putin will demand at least de facto control over nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, in talks with Trump. However, some Bloomberg sources claim that “Moscow is open to the exchange of territories”.
While the future US leader and his top aides have not shown much enthusiasm for binding security guarantees for Ukraine, primarily through NATO membership, some in the Trump camp have advocated supporting Kyiv to be able to negotiate from a position of strength.
The publication recalls that Ukraine’s biggest concern is that a cessation of hostilities would allow Russia to regroup and strike again. That is why Ukraine needs Western weapons and a sufficiently large army.
As a reminder, the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced its readiness to organize a meeting between US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on its territory.
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Trump’s position on Ukraine
During the election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. Sometimes he suggested that this could happen even before that.
Also during the election, the media spread the so-called “Trump Plan”. The idea was that the United States would use its influence to stop the war and maintain the status quo. To do this, Trump would force Putin and Zelenskyy to sit down at the negotiating table. If Putin does not agree to negotiate, the United States will give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to win on the battlefield. If Zelenskyy refuses to negotiate, the United States will completely stop helping Ukraine.
This plan, in its various variations, stipulates that Russia retains the territories it temporarily occupies and that Ukraine does not join NATO.
However, later Trump seemed to “forget” about this plan. In particular, he voiced scenarios in which he would force Russia to capitulate due to the decline in world oil prices.
After Trump was elected President of the United States, one of his advisors, Brian Lanza, said that Ukraine should forget about Crimea. The president-elect’s entourage, however, was quick to deny this statement and said that Lanza could not speak for Trump.
Currently, the future US Special Representative for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is talking about 100 days in which he wants to reach some kind of agreement.
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