There was no deal on Friday in Alaska. Much was not known about how exactly it was like it was after the moment that American soldiers went on their knees to roll out the red carpet for the Vladimir Putin suspected of war crimes and he then shook Donald Trump’s hand.
A few things were leaking about what came across the table in the two presidents in Anchorage. Including the menu of the ‘Lunch in honor of his Excellency Vladimir Putin’ with a green salad, Filet Mignon and Olympia Halbot, which would have found the NPR medium in a printing device of a hotel.
On Saturday afternoon American media reported what had been discussed in terms of content. Trump would have told European leaders that he supports a plan to give the Ukrainian Donbas to Russia.
Reuters news agency came up with a list on Sunday under which conditions the Russian Federation indicated that they are willing to make peace with Ukraine. Although NRC It is not possible to confirm that these are actually the proposals from Russia, it is that the list of requirements overlap with a large part of the issues that will have to be made in Ukraine.
Read also
Immense task for Zensky and the European delegation: they have to see Trump to talk
President VolodyMyr Zensky will come to Washington on Monday (with back support from Ursula von der Leyen, chairman of the European Commission, and other European leaders such as Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Giorgia Meloni). Below how Ukraine views the most important Russian views.
1. No cease-fire until the entire peace agreement has been concluded
This is the opposite of what Kyiv and Europe had suggested. With this requirement, Russia seems to want to exert maximum pressure on Ukraine. Not only forces this Ukraine to negotiate while his citizens are being shot. Also, KYIV does not provide any evidence that Russia is actually planning to stop the war against Ukraine. The fear is that Russia will continue to fight as soon as it has territory ownership. Trump substantiated this position by saying that ‘files often do not stand’. For Ukraine, on the other hand, stopping the war through a ceasefire is the primary goal. Russia wants to prevent Kyiv from using a combat break for strengthening the defense.
2. Withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from regions Donetsk and Loehansk
These provinces are known together as the ‘Donbas’. A mine region with raw materials such as coal, lithium, iron ore, salt and other minerals. Loehansk is almost completely occupied, but Russia did not succeed in conquering in the whole of Donetsk in the last eleven years. Thanks in part to a ‘belt’ of strongly defended and well -defensible industrial cities: Pokrovsk, Kostjantynivka, Slovjansk and Kramatensk. Although Pokrovsk has become largely unlivable due to Russian siege this year, the Russia would cost a lot of time, equipment and men to conquer all four cities, and then the rest of the area.
It is feared that the occupied areas become a springboard for military operations against central ukraine
The prospect to give roughly 6,500 square kilometers uninhibited, would cause “many tensions in Ukrainian society,” said Olga Aivazovska, head of the Expora Board of Directors, a Ukrainian NGO who gave the mood in the country, against the British newspaper de de de Financial Times. To protect the area, many Ukrainians died – many relatives do not want this sacrifice to have been for nothing.
Although a poll by another agency shows that 69 percent of the Ukrainians are for a negotiated peace, it does matter under what conditions. Sociological research from June showed that only 15 percent of the population would not want to give up an occupied area.
Ukraine would weaken itself both politically and economically and militarily by withdrawing from Donetsk. With these logistics centers in their hands, Moscow would have it much easier if the decision to prosecute the war – for example with a new attack towards Kharkiv. The region located at the border would suddenly be halfway.
It is also feared that the occupied areas become a springboard for military operations against central ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians live there and are cobalt, titanium and graphite supplies in the ground. The question is whether this is a breaking point of Putin, on which he is willing to clap the negotiations, or a negotiating point – on which he can come up with other requirements. Or that the allies can give Ukraine sufficient security guarantees to make it an attractive offer.
3. The freezing of the front line in regions of Herson and Zaporizja
The conviction that Ukraine will be able to reclaim the already occupied territories militarily has already let President Volodyymyr Zensky go. The freezing of the front lines in the case of a file is a logical consequence of this. But the conditions are also important here.
For example, Ukraine would like to return control over the occupied nuclear power plant in Zaporizja. It is Europe’s largest its kind and provided a fifth of the energy requirement of pre -war Ukraine. Russia is working on connecting the plant to its own power grid. But as a result of a few near-disasters due to the occupation, shelling and a lack of cooling water, the plant is currently at a watch position. A middle ground, with a neutral manager of the power station, has already been mentioned.
4. Formal allocation of the Crimea peninsula to Russia
This is perhaps the biggest obstacle for a deal. Recognizing the jure of the Crimea as an occupied area is not only incredibly bad with the Ukrainian population (only between a quarter and 39 percent is warm for it), but with everyone who value international law. Territorial integrity is central to the UN Charter and a cornerstone of the International World Order Post-Tweede World War.
President Zensky cannot agree with this – it is contrary to the Ukrainian constitution, which prescribes that the territory is ‘indivisible and inviolable’. The Constitution cannot be adjusted as long as Ukraine is in a state of war. Breaking with the Constitution can cause a riot in Ukraine.
Europe supports Ukraine square in this. In the EU, jure recognition is a ‘Pandora box’. It is feared that if the occupation is formally recognized at the UN, this prepares the road to other wars. “What prevents Italy from claiming Nice after such a step?” Said French MEP Bernard Guetta, to a Swiss news site earlier this year. “What does China keep from recalculating Taiwan?”
A de facto recognition, in which agreements are made without Ukraine formally entitled to the area, could. Or a variant that the US recognizes Crimea as Russian, but not other countries.
5. Prohibition on NATO entry for Ukraine, but security guarantees for KYIV.
Although a prohibition on NATO entry has always been seen as an infringement of the right to self-determination of Ukraine, it will perhaps depend on the conditions or KYIV may still agree. A temporary suspension might be acceptable. The majority of the population does not expect the country to be invited to the military alliance in the foreseeable future. Donald Trump repeatedly rejected the membership for KYIV, and Ukraine cannot go to NATO without the support of the US.
There is talk of an ‘article 5-like’ alternative, one for all, all for one ‘occasional association
Much more important for Ukraine is what other security guarantees are coming. A small breakthrough would have been achieved about this. Details are still unknown, but there is talk of an ‘article 5-like’ alternative, one for all, all for one ‘Occupational Association. The United States would participate in this, together with some European countries. “We have agreed robust security guarantees that I would describe as groundbreaking,” said the American special-envoy Steve Witkoff on CNN.