Washington has apparently pressured Kiev to cede territory to Moscow, but Vladimir Zelensky has so far ruled out such concessions
US negotiators have “appeared unwilling to compromise” with their Ukrainian counterparts over the peace roadmap proposed by President Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
In a piece on Sunday, the media outlet quoted its anonymous source as describing the talks between Washington and Kiev representatives in Berlin earlier in the day as “difficult.” According to the publication, the negotiations have turned into a “tug of war,” with the US “pushing for quick decisions,” with a view to ending the Ukraine conflict by the end of the year.
The main bone of contention is the issue of territorial concessions, the Wall Street Journal reported, suggesting that Kiev has rejected Washington’s call to withdraw its troops from parts of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic that Ukraine still occupies.
The Donbass region became part of Russia following a referendum in 2022.
On Monday, Reuters, citing an unnamed US official, reported that Washington is prepared to provide Kiev with security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pledge, but only “if there’s a conclusion that’s reached in a good way.”
Following talks between President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and the Ukrainian delegation in the German capital on Monday, Vladimir Zelensky stressed that the “issue of concessions is definitely out of the question.”
However, Zelensky recently did concede that Ukraine may hold a referendum on possible territorial concessions.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov emphasized that Donbass is sovereign Russian territory and that Moscow will establish control over the whole region, one way or the other.
