Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday that he is open to talks with Russia but only under conditions that are non-starters for negotiations with Moscow.
According to The Associated Press, Zelensky’s conditions include Russia withdrawing from the territory it has captured, Russia paying compensation for war damages, and the prosecution of alleged Russian war crimes.
Missing from Zelensky’s demands was his previous stance that talks could only happen if Vladimir Putin was no longer Russia’s leader. Zelensky previously signed a decree ruling out peace talks with Russia as long as Putin is president, and media reports said that the US was privately encouraging Ukraine to drop this position for public relations purposes.
Sources told POLITICO on Tuesday that Zelensky changed his position after being nudged by the US for several days. The effort included in-person talks between Zelensky and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that took place in Kyiv last week.
A senior Biden administration official told POLITICO that even though they were pushing Zelensky to drop the position, they don’t actually want peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. “That doesn’t mean they need to go to the negotiating table right now. We don’t even think right now is the right time based on what Russia is doing,” the official said.
The US was concerned that it looked bad for Ukraine to take such a firm stance against negotiations while Russian officials, including Putin, continue to say they’re open to talks. The US still expects the war to last for years and is setting up a command to oversee arming Ukraine based in Germany that is expected to be up and running in early 2023.
Zelensky’s conditions include Russia withdrawing from the territory it has captured
i would like to see a map of territory that has actually been captured by russia so far
Taking your comment at face value:
https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-UKRAINE-254-1.png?w=770&resize=770%2C770
That is about equal to the territory Manafort and his cohorts had promised Putin we would allow him to take.
Do you have any details about discussions between Manafort and Putin or Manafort and Yanukovych?
thanks. didn’t most if not all of those “captured” territories appeal to russia for help in fending off ukrainian aggression against them?
Yes.
Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea did ask for protection, and they make up a sizeable piece of the captured areas. But recent elections in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts are more complicated.
Public relations?… Too many sides are traversing a slippery slope here. And we expect this war to last for years?… Well, why not? We’ve got nothing better to do, other than to interfere and put our noses where they don’t belong. There are too many ways that this situation can backfire, there’s not enough room on paper to begin and end these possibilities… Yet Russia indicates a willingness to engage in talks, which to me is a sign of some sanity. The US is acting like it has the biggest balls on the block and wants to see how far they can push this, as if no dangerous consequences are present. I’m not a betting lady but I am not about to hold my breath for too long before this thing gets too far gone and the current conflict becomes something most of us hoped would not happen…And President Zelensky needs to get his head out of his a–…
Donna, you just said everything that needs sayin’!
He has three problems; U.S., UK, Azov Battalion
I agree. “The US was concerned that it looked bad for Ukraine to take such a firm stance against negotiations while Russian officials, including Putin, continue to say they’re open to talks.” Sounds like someone is on a mission to polish Zelensky’s turds.
American warmonger generals and politicians pretend that seventy percent of their subjects are not too fat to be of use to the military and the other thirty percent are not of divided loyalty.
US civilian morale managers in the pentagon believe their own Hollywood Rambo propaganda about their subject’s war fighting spirit. Yes, there are quite a few right wing proud boy types and police who would love to go fight for America in China, Iran and Russia.
Even so, if you figure America lovers at maybe twenty-five percent of the people and then subtract the overweight crowd, the result is less than five percent of fighting age Americans lusting to go kill totally innocent Chinese, Iranian and Russian families. Making matters worse for the Pentagon, this small percentage is so mentally unstable they would be just as happy killing American families they believe are internal enemies of the state.
Sullivan is advocating bad-faith talks, a field in which Washington neocons are thoroughly practiced over the last 50 yrs.
Doesn’t the optics go out of the window when you say it’s an illusion out loud?
Before any negotiations can begin Zelensky needs to return all of the stolen cash and money made from selling American weapons on the black market.
This war has barely started. Clearly, voters are worried as people see the link between this war and inflation, but there is no real political leadership to address concerns of our time. Trump is the biggest loser, and his wishy-washy show biz brand of conservatives has no traction with seriously worried voters, Now Democrats took it as affirmation of their leadership, and will double up on addiction to agression.
This is the time to find solution. If Zelenski really thinks Europeans are so gullabe , and all he has to do is give them some verbal negotiation noise — he is the dumb one with swollen head.
Protests in Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic — and more, are telling. They are not just protesting inflation and astronomical heating bills, but also expressing anger over supporing Ukraine. Russia is seen as justified in taking on Kiev regime.
These are deeply uncomfortable signs of things to come. Who in earth but Biden’s zealotic masters could possibly think that his royal higness Zelenski can just say word “negotiations”, and Europeans will go away!
Amazing how media ignores Europe.
Spoken like a Zelenskyy.
Mere posturing on ZelBoy’s part: it looks very bad for him when “aggressor” Putin is open to negotiations while ZelBoy remains in his fantasy world believing he can win this war.
On another note: the territories “occupied” by Russia have spoken: they overwhelmingly wish to become part of Russia and kiss Ukraine’s ass goodbye. Deal with it ZelBoy; the PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. I suppose they don’t wish to reside in a “ big IsraHell “.
Well sure, would you open negotiations with the minimum objective you felt you needed?