“Ukraine is ready to discuss painful compromises — from abandoning NATO membership to holding elections within tight timeframes — but there is a boundary that Zelensky is not prepared to cross”, - BILD writes following the first round of talks with the U.S. in Berlin on December 14.
The publication notes that the key issue remains territorial. One clause of the plan proposed by the U.S. administration states that Crimea, the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts are “de facto recognized as russian”.
Kyiv is ready for the de facto loss of control over territories occupied by russia, but categorically rejects the demand to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the part of the Donetsk oblast controlled by Ukraine. There is also no agreement on a compromise option to create some kind of “demilitarized economic zone” in this area without the entry of russian troops. Moscow supported the idea but clarified that it would deploy rosgvardiya troops there.
“We will not accept this. It would be equivalent to the capitulation of the Ukrainian army”, - one senior Ukrainian official told BILD. President Zelensky put forward a counterproposal. “If Ukrainian troops withdraw, say, five to ten kilometers, why should russian troops not also withdraw the same distance deeper into the occupied territories?” he asked rhetorically.
As reported earlier, putin is seeking Ukraine’s voluntary withdrawal from the entire territory of the Donetsk oblast, since this is where the strongest and best-prepared Ukrainian defense is located.