U.S. is proposing that Ukraine redraw its regional borders to end war, - The Economist
U.S. negotiators are proposing a plan to redraw the administrative boundaries of Ukrainian regions so that Putin can declare that he has achieved his territorial goals without having to cede to Russia cities that remain under Ukrainian control.
This is reported in an article by The Economist, according to Censor.NET.
Details
It is noted that the Americans have already proposed several controversial concessions in an effort to persuade Putin to reach an agreement.
One of them is Russia’s return to European energy markets, in violation of a new European Union law. Both Ukraine and its European partners oppose this proposal.
Another idea, according to negotiators, involves changing Ukraine’s administrative borders to allow Russia to claim full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions—which it seeks to seize—without requiring Ukraine to relinquish the remaining cities still under its control.
"As before, the most difficult issue is security guarantees, without which Ukraine says it cannot stop fighting. For now, there is no obvious compromise that would allow Russia to declare victory, while allowing Ukraine to retain full sovereignty, even over what remains of its territory," the article states.
U.S. negotiators claim that Putin might agree to guarantees from the U.S. modeled after NATO Articles 4 or 5. This refers to a commitment to hold consultations in the event of a threat to Ukraine or to defend it in the event of an attack.
"But Ukrainians doubt they could trust that Mr Trump would honour any such guarantees. Russia, for its part, shows no indication it would accept a multinational reassurance force inside Ukraine. Nor has it dropped its demands that Ukraine must declare its neutrality and reduce the size of its army," the publication writes.
A high-ranking Ukrainian official stated:
"Our American friends want a breakthrough. But seeing what the Russians are doing with our infrastructure, it’s hard to believe one is coming."
