Russia will withdraw from peace talks if Ukraine does not give up Donbas, - Bloomberg
In Russia, there is a growing belief that there is no point in continuing peace talks with Ukraine under the auspices of the United States if Kyiv is not prepared to cede territory in order to reach an agreement.
This is according to Bloomberg, citing sources, as reported byCensor.NET.
Russia's conditions
As noted, the negotiations scheduled for next week will be decisive in determining whether the parties can agree on the terms for ending the war, two people close to the Kremlin told the publication. They noted that Russia is likely to walk away from the negotiations if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not make concessions.
"Russia is ready to sign a draft memorandum on a peace agreement if Ukraine agrees to withdraw its troops from the rest of the Donetsk region. This will be quickly followed by a presidential summit between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Zelenskyy to confirm the agreement, which will result in the mutual withdrawal of Russian and Ukrainian troops," the agency writes.
What concessions is Russia prepared to make?
The article states that the territorial issue is the most difficult to resolve in the context of efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion. Zelenskyy emphasises that Donbas is vital for defending the country from any future Russian attacks and that Kyiv does not recognise Moscow's illegal occupation of any Ukrainian territory.
Trump and Zelenskyy spoke by phone on Wednesday, and the Ukrainian president said they agreed that the next round of talks with Russia should "create an opportunity to move the negotiations to the leadership level." The talks could take place around 4-5 March.
The US has proposed creating a "free economic zone" in Donbas, although Ukraine believes that the territory should remain under Kyiv's control. Russia wants its National Guard to be present in the territory.
- Russia is ready to withdraw its troops from the north-eastern regions of Ukraine — Sumy and Kharkiv regions, as well as Dnipropetrovsk region — as part of the agreement and will not insist on demands for additional territories in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, one of Bloomberg's sources said.
- In addition, Russia will agree to US-led monitoring of the ceasefire, although it will not accept any foreign troops in Ukraine and will also drop its demand to limit the size of the Ukrainian army, the source said.
The agreement, which Russia supports, resembles proposals first put forward by Vitkoff when he visited Moscow shortly before Putin's August summit with Trump in Alaska, according to four people in Moscow familiar with the matter.
Witkoff told Putin that the US would pressure Ukraine to give up Donbas if Russia agreed to freeze the conflict at current positions and abandon claims to Ukrainian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
