Kyiv says ‘yes to peace, no to surrender’ on mandatory American peace proposal

Ukraine wants to negotiate peace, but not about surrender. That is the message that the Ukrainian government came out on Wednesday. The peace talks with European Foreign Ministers, who would take place this Wednesday in London, were canceled in the morning.

This happened after the night from Tuesday to Wednesday leaked via news site Axios that the American special envoy Keith Kellogg would come with « Trumps definitive peace proposal ». The document of one page blindly describes how Washington sees the end of the war: with international recognition of Crimea as Russian territory and the freezing of the front line at the current point – which can be seen as the specification by Ukraine of the four occupied regions to Russia.

Vice President JD Vance left there Wednesday afternoon There is no doubt that the United States wants to increase the pressure: « The time has come to say yes, » he said about Russia and Ukraine when you visit India« Otherwise, the United States must withdraw from this process. » By the evening, President Trump added a little extra: « Crimea was lost years ago (…) It is not even the subject of discussion. »

Recognition Crimea

The American proposal states, among other things, that Ukraine would promise to give up his ambition for NATO membership, and that all sanctions that have been established since 2014 will be lifted against Russia.

Shortly after the plans were leaked, it was announced that the American Foreign Minister Marco Rubio would not participate in the top consultation in London. Then other ministers withdrew. The American special envoy for Russia Steve Witkoff has also unsubscribed from European consultations on Wednesday. He is flying to Moscow again this week for further negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

Recognition of the annexation of Crimea, against international law in and in violation of the Ukrainian constitution, is a bridge too far for Ukraine and European allies. But the enforced neutrality with regard to NATO is also not good for them. This point goes against Ukrainian self -determination and makes the country vulnerable for further Russian violence. Certainly as long as there is uncertainty about an alternative.

According to the proposal, Ukraine would get « robust security guarantees » – but they are not specified.

A third necklace is the abrupt lifting of the sanctions. This would mean that Russia no longer stands in the way of running out the conquered areas and stolen sites and companies. This can also be a safety risk for Europe, because the Moscow would enable itself to recover military and economically at lightning speed – for example, because it is no longer forbidden to deliver military products and weapons for China.

Moreover, the frozen Russian credits are then released, who wants to use Europe to support the Ukrainian army, or to finance the reconstruction. The American proposal states that there must be a fund for the reconstruction – it is still uncertain who should fill that fund.

European answer

Europe will soon have to come up with a strong answer to the American proposal if it wants to help Ukraine. The Belgian Minister of Defense Theo Francken already stated on Wednesday in a debate in parliament that Belgium is willing to participate in a peace mission for Ukraine. France and Germany are likely to take the lead in such a European peace force. « You may hear less of it, » said Francken about the peace mission. « But the conversations are working very hard behind the scenes. »

On Wednesday, plenty of conversations were held in London by representatives of the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. Ukrainian government members landed in the British capital in the morning. « With Minister of Defense Roestem Oemerov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Andri Sybiha I arrived in London, » wrote the Presidential Staff Chef Andri Jermak Online. « Despite everything we will work on peace. »

French President Emmanuel Macron stated in Paris that « Ukrainian territorial integrity, » is a necessity for a peace deal.

Under the American proposal, the conflict would not be completely frozen along the current front line. For example, Ukraine would regain some occupied pieces of the northeastern province of Charkiv.

Finally, it has been proposed that the area around the Zaporizja nuclear power plant is formally returning to Ukraine, but will be managed by the United States in practice. The Ukrainian President VolodyMyr Zenskyy already noted this week that the nuclear power plant without Ukrainian technicians cannot be used safely. The central is currently on a ‘watch position’ and does not generate any electricity because a nuclear disaster threatened several times during the war.

The American proposal refers to a mineral deal between Ukraine and the US. Trump stated earlier that this treaty will be signed this week on the Ukrainian soil treasures.

While European leaders tried to formulate a strong answer to the American drammers on Wednesday, Russia made heavy attacks on Ukraine. In the morning, nine citizens were killed in the city of Marhanets at a Russian drone attack on a bus that transported employees. Marhanets is located in the south of Ukraine, along the Dnipro River, 15 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant occupied by Russia in Zaporizja. 45 people were injured by the attack. There were also explosions in Odesa and there were Russian shelling and drone attacks on Chernihiv and Soemy in the North and Cherson in the south.

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