Kremlin’s demands for Ukraine to "withdraw" from Donbas are signal to Trump, who is bogged down in Iran, - "servant of people" Chernev
The statement by Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov that Ukraine must immediately withdraw its troops from Donbas is a signal to U.S. President Donald Trump.
This was stated in a comment to Censor.NET by Yehor Chernev, a member of parliament from the "Servant of the People" faction and head of the Permanent Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Details
"This statement stems from the fact that Trump is effectively losing influence over us because he is bogged down in Iran, and because we are becoming more independent on many issues and transforming into a player capable of providing security in the Middle East and building our own ties with the region. Against this backdrop, Putin realizes that his opportunities to pressure us are dwindling—both directly and indirectly through the United States.
And what they agreed upon with America in Anchorage (about Ukraine without Ukraine) is effectively not being implemented. In fact, now they don’t want to raise the stakes (there’s nowhere left to go), but to make one last attempt to apply pressure. Plus, I think this is more of a signal to Trump than to us. As if to say: look, you’re not succeeding in Iran, so apply pressure here, and maybe you’ll have some luck in the next election," he noted.
According to the MP, there is no logic whatsoever in the proposal to cede Donbas.
"If you voluntarily give up territory, you are effectively undermining your own sovereignty and territorial integrity. They asked you once, you did it—so why can’t they ask you a second, third, or fourth time?! To put it simply: after Donbas, it will be the Kherson region, then Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and so on. This is absolutely unacceptable. You delegitimize yourself by ceding territory.
Plus, we’ve already been through this in 2014, when the very same United States said: "Don’t press too hard on Crimea, so this doesn’t escalate into a full-scale war." And did that help? Not really. Therefore, there are no guarantees that if we, hypothetically speaking, were to give up Donbas (though no one here is even considering that), Putin would stop there. His goals, according to our intelligence and that of our partners, have not changed: neither regarding Ukraine, nor the Baltic states, nor Europe as a whole. He will continue," Chernev noted.
Trump's statements
Speaking about the U.S. president’s remarks on the war in Ukraine, the politician noted that Trump is thus demonstrating a continuation of his consistent policy that finances come before everything else.
"In other words, his goal is not geopolitical influence, but above all positive changes in the economy. Especially since the U.S. national debt is now the highest in history. By attacking Iran, he also wanted to take control of oil resources, just as he did with Venezuela. Whoever controls energy will effectively dictate the terms and make money. For him, Ukraine is a burden that drains money rather than adding to it. Although they certainly profit from the war, those aren’t the funds he’s interested in. As for NATO, it is also a financial burden for the U.S. Plus, as we can see, European countries did not want to get involved in this adventure with Iran and did not help him. That is why he considers it necessary to review U.S. participation in the Alliance," he emphasized.
We should strengthen ties with Europe
Chernev believes that in this situation, Ukraine should strengthen its ties with Europe, which is exactly what it is doing now.
"Trump is ‘helping’ us in this regard by pushing Europe away from him and thereby pushing it toward us. Because Europe understands that Ukraine today is, in fact, the only country with real experience in waging modern warfare. Yes, it’s not exactly "rocket science," so to speak, although we’re moving in that direction—after all, we’re developing our own missiles—but nonetheless. Europeans realize this. So we need to unite with Europe. It is ready to finance our needs while simultaneously developing its own defense capabilities," the MP added.
Background
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters that the United States had linked its proposal on security guarantees to the condition that Kyiv cede the whole of Donbas to Russia.
- At the same time, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called false President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Washington was ready to provide security guarantees in exchange for the withdrawal of the AFU from Donbas.
- Earlier, President Zelenskyy stated that Russia is demanding that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the parts of Donbas controlled by Kyiv within two months.
- The Kremlin believes that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions under its control "as of today."
