Why negotiations in Ukraine were canceled in London
The meeting of the delegations of the United States, European countries and Ukraine in London, on which Western allies had to coordinate the plan of Ukrainian settlement on April 23, turned into a loud scandal. Two American negotiators at once – Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Presidential Special Supervisor Steven Whitkoff – at the last moment canceled trips to London, after which the Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany and the UK followed their example. Prior to this, the President of Ukraine Zelensky, without waiting for negotiations, publicly rejected Donald Trump’s peaceful plan for the proposal to recognize Crimea to the Russian and nominated the ultimatum of Russia, demanding from it a complete ceasefire. Now the Whitkoff’s special beam is waiting in Moscow to discuss the current situation.
Disruption of negotiations in Ukraine in London with the participation of high -ranking representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and members of the immediate environment of the President of Zelensky was a complete surprise to everyone, including President Trump, who promised a “good deal” in Ukraine in the coming days (See “Kommersant” from April 22).
In just a day before the negotiations, the head of the US State Department Tammy Bruce, in an interview with Fox News, confirmed its trip to London as part of the American delegation, together with Secretary of State Marko Rubio, the special Stevens of President Stephen Whitkoff and the Special Supervisor in Ukraine Keito Kelllog. She also called the “very good sign” the last statements of the Russian side about the readiness for dialogue with Ukraine.
Against this background, the leading Western media reported that the main topic of the meeting of Western allies and Kyiv should be the coordination of a joint peaceful plan in Ukraine.
Newspaper The Washington Post With reference to sources in the White House, she wrote that the American delegation will offer European countries and Ukraine to recognize Crimea to the Russian, while the allies of Kyiv in exchange will achieve security guarantees for Ukraine. In turn, The Daily Telegraph reported that the US London will have to submit a plan to settle seven points, which includes the recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Crimea.
However, even before the negotiations, the situation around the meeting in London has changed dramatically. The starting point was the new message of the official representative of the US State Department Tammy Bruce, who was forced to disavow her own statement to Fox News.
“Secretary of State Rubio is an employed person, in this particular case, while meetings in London are going on, he will not be attended by them,” – reported Madam Bruce, making it clear that the head of American diplomacy had things to do in Washington. Soon after, it was announced that the special representative of President Trump Stephen Witkoff would not go to London.
Thus, the American team in London lost two key players at once, who in recent months have been negotiating with representatives of Ukraine and Russia.
The only American participant in the London meeting was the special representative of the president in Ukraine Keith Kellog, the least significant representative of the American negotiation group.
A sharp loss of interest in the meeting in London of the American side occurred after the new high-profile statements by the President of Zelensky, which he made on April 22 at a press conference in Kyiv. Answering a question about his attitude to the American proposal to recognize Crimea by the Russian one, the President of Ukraine categorically excluded the possibility of legal recognition of Crimea. “There is nothing to talk about – this is outside our constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine. This will not happen, ”he emphasized, adding that the conflict has been going on for 12 years and Ukraine does not intend to change its position. “This is a rhetorical question whether it is possible to agree with Russia quickly. No. It is impossible without pressure on Moscow, ”he said.
In addition, the Ukrainian president did not answer the question of Politico about his attitude to the last proposal of the Russian side to abandon strikes on civil infrastructure facilities. As for the proposal about the truce, then, according to Zelensky, Russia should take the first steps to stop the fire, after which Ukraine will consider it possible to negotiate with Moscow.
Commenting on the actual refusal of the US administration to participate in negotiations in London, a newspaper The Wall Street Journal He notes that Zelensky’s position “crosses out the last step of President Trump, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, and creates a new uncertainty in future relations between Kiev and Washington, which Trump has dependent on a quick transaction.”
“Having rejected the US proposal to recognize Russia’s control over the Crimea as part of the ceasefire agreement, Zelensky questioned the efforts of President Trump to terminate the war,” the publication notes.
The abolition of visits to London Rubio and Whitkoff caused a quick chain reaction of refusing negotiations and declared European participants. On Wednesday morning, it became known that his trips to the British capital were canceled the Foreign Minister of Foreign Ministry and Germany, Jean-Niel Barro and Annalena Berbock (Mr. Barro, instead of London, went on a visit to Baghdad, switched from Ukrainian settlement to Middle Eastern).
The situation began to look even more scandalous after its owner, the British Foreign Minister David Lammy, announced his non -participation in the meeting. “After Rubio called the organizer of the Lammy event to inform him of the cancellation of the visit, this quickly led to the fact that Lammy also refused to participate,” the television channel said Sky News.
“The refusal of the US Secretary of State Rubio to participate in a gathering in London on the subject of the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine is the result of Washington’s hard contact with the intrigues of London and Paris, as well as the unpredictability of Zelensky’s behavior. The public designation of positions before the start of their discussion is traditionally the shortest way to break the negotiations themselves. Especially when in the bully, all the declared proposals of one of the participants are rejected from the threshold, ” – Commented In his Telegram channel, a collision in the relations of Western allies, the chairman of the committee of the Council of International Affairs, Grigory Karasin, who at the end of March took part in negotiations with American representatives in Saudi Arabia.
Press Secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov, who indicated that “the United States could not continue its intermediary efforts” due to the impossibility of bringing the positions of the parties also gave his assessment of the discontinence in London.
“We continue our contacts with the Americans. We have no contacts with Europeans. Contacts with Ukrainians too. Although President Putin retains his openness to such contacts in the interests of settlement. Here is the status quo today, ”summed up Dmitry Peskov (earlier reportedthat this week Russia will visit the special support of Trump Stephen Witkoff).
The reaction of the US administration to the next failure of American mediation in Ukrainian settlement was the first to formulate Vice President Jay Di Wence, whom the news from London was found in the former British colony of India.
The discouraged Vance made it clear that the United States could stop its intermediary mission in Ukraine. “We made a very clear offer to both Russians and Ukrainians. Time has come, and now they will say “yes” or the United States will come out of this process. I think we have formed a very honest proposal, ”said the US Vice-President.
