On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to temporarily cede territory to Russia to bring an end to the war in exchange for NATO protection over Ukraine.
“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under [the] NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelensky told Sky News. “That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.”
Zelensky’s suggestion is almost certainly a non-starter for Russia since the invasion was launched to keep Ukraine out of NATO, but it does reflect a shift in his position. Zelensky previously maintained that his war goals included driving Russia out of all of the territory it has captured since February 2022, as well as Crimea.
In a recent conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to a speech he made earlier this year that outlines his conditions for peace, which include a Ukrainian withdrawal from all territory Russia has annexed, Ukrainian neutrality, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Russia.
Ukrainian neutrality was Russia’s main demand during short-lived negotiations that took place in the early days of the invasion. Ukrainian and Russian officials held talks in March and April of 2022, but the negotiations were discouraged by the US and its allies.
In the interview with Sky News, Zelensky said Ukraine wouldn’t agree to a ceasefire without guarantees of NATO protection. “We need [NATO protection] very much, otherwise [Putin] will come back. Otherwise, how are we going to go to a ceasefire? So for us, it’s very dangerous,” he said.
While Zelensky and Putin’s terms are extremely far apart, the Ukrainian side could be forced to make more concessions if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his campaign promise to end the war and pressures Zelensky to negotiate.
The Russian terms are simple:
Russia keeps lands ceded to it by referendum.
U.S. returns to the INF treaty as well as the Open Skies treaty.
U.S. disarms NATO and non-NATO countries on Russia's borders.
No NATO "protection" or admittance in NATO for Ukraine.
No NATO and Russia starts invading more neighboring countries.
Referendum?
Forced referendum, you meant.
The majority of Eastern Ukraine are Ukrainians that don't want to be part of Russia and labeled Neo Nazis.
Yes, the same majority that was evicted from their homes/land after the invasion.
"No NATO and Russia starts invading more neighboring countries."
Then why did they invade Ukraine? Maybe this?
February 1, 2008. US Ambassador to Russia William Burns sends a confidential cable to U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, entitled “Nyet means Nyet: Russia’s NATO Enlargement Redlines,” emphasizing that “Ukraine and Georgia’s NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for stability in the region.”
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/02/27/us-nato-expansion-ukraine-russia-intervene
So, please stop with your MSM induced nonsense about Putin wanting to conquer Europe. Maybe, just maybe, it actually has to do with REAL security concerns. Kind of like Canada or Mexico being part of a hostile military alliance.
Putin does though
He's not stupid. He can add. Ukrainians should learn to do the same.
ukrainians are smart
not as smart as us poles but we are all european so they are much smarter than any american
False.
Why are you so opposed to democracy and the direct will of the people ?
Even IF you could make a case that the Crimean referendum was questionably conducted (and that would be a stretch, even for an irrational like you), there is NO doubt that the result represents the will of the overwhelming majority of Crimeans.
The relative peace & prosperity of that region (expressed in essays by antiwar.com Contributors a few months ago; the duo that traveled the region) demonstrates that the citizens voted the right choice for themselves.
"No NATO and Russia starts invading more…countries."
No evidence and yr claim is worthless.
"The majority of Eastern…Ukrainians…don't want to be part of Russia…the same majority that was evicted from their homes/land after the invasion."
Tough luck for Ukraine Zelensky never made good on his election promise to end the Donbas conflict.
Tough luck for Ukraine Zelensky instead supported laws oppressing Russian-oriented Ukrainians – like the concentrations of them in the Donbas.
Tough luck for Ukraine the strutting servile Z listened to the west – blowing its chance for a ceasefire it would have kept the Donbas under.
And now Donbas is gone forever – and only yr fascist-insignia-wearing Ukrainians, US-ass-licking Ukrainian pols – and Americans eager for the fight to go on to the last Ukrainian – to blame.
Russia escalated the donbass conflict with their green men
Ukraine is not fascist
They is a ridiculous claim only pro-putin ideolouges would come up with
1/ "Russia escalated the donbass conflict with their green men"
Ukraine created "the donbass conflict" by laws oppressing large ethnic minorities.
2/ "Ukraine is not fascist"
Learn to read, stupid – "fascist-insignia-wearing Ukrainians":
"Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines"
"KYIV, Ukraine — Since Russia began its invasion…the Ukrainian government and NATO allies have posted, then quietly deleted, three…photographs….
"In each photograph, Ukrainians in uniform wore patches featuring symbols that were made notorious by Nazi Germany and have since become part of the iconography of far-right hate groups."
New York Time, 6/5/23
no minorities were oppressed
russia is actually fascist… your excuse is a pathetic attempt at reflexive blaming. in order to disassociate russia from the nazis, you call ukraine fascist instead. Well, Russia is actually fascist
russia is lead by a far right schizofascistic state which claims they are on a holy fight against fascism in order to seem not fascist themselves
"you call ukraine fascist"
Wow, caught lying and you double down on the lie – so that's the kinda' guy you are.
Again: Ukrainians wear fascist insignias – "fascist-insignia-wearing Ukrainians."
Which the article shows is true.
Fascist insignias which you either didn't know about – meaning you ran yr mouth when you were ignorant…
…and are too much of a lazebag to look things up…
…or you knew about the fascist insignias worn by soldiers in those pics, but don't want to admit it – which makes you more a scurrying rodent-type.
"Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines"
"KYIV, Ukraine — Since Russia began its invasion…the Ukrainian government and NATO allies have posted, then quietly deleted, three…photographs….
"In each photograph, Ukrainians in uniform wore patches featuring symbols that were made notorious by Nazi Germany and have since become part of the iconography of far-right hate groups."
New York Time, 6/5/23
“oh no! 10 soldiers were wearing Nazi patches! That must mean the whole country is a nazi hellhole! That must ALSO mean that Russia canNOT be fascist since they are “liberating” ukraine AGAINST fascism!! Slava 404″
-abramawić
"oh no! 10 soldiers were wearing Nazi patches! That must mean-"
'oh no!' – "smart" poster caught lying again:
ukrainian press officers tell soldiers to take off nazi insignias before photos – so he has no idea how many wear them – not that he gives a crap.
"no minorities were oppressed"
Easy to google Ukraine's laws limiting the language rights of mainly-Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
Then – on minority oppression – you can look up the Ukraine govt looking away when Ukrainians vandalized a Hungarian-speaking village, screaming, 'Magyars get the knife.'
Then you can look up how Melnyk, the Ukrainian ex-ambassador to Germany, denied Ukraine's part in the Holocaust.
And while yer at it – have a look at your own "smart" Polish countrymen's barn-burning of Jews.
Time to do a lick of work, lazebag.
Hear hear. I would add the Ukrainians need to shitcan the Bandera worship – and elect a government.
Oh, but red-black-white iconography is SO "in" there right now !!!
All of those are net gains for EVERYONE involved. Not for the MIC but definitely for long term peace prospects.
“Trump promises”….while he intends to install rabid warhawks, trends toward disappointment on that front.
I would say plummeting – in a negative vertical sense – toward disappointment.
Hey RBE!
Hey right back at you and many thanks for your contributions here.
Under plans floated by Mr Trump’s team, a peace deal would see the current front line frozen in place, and Ukraine agreeing to shelve its ambitions to join Nato for 20 years. If agreed, the US would pump Ukraine with weapons to deter future Russian aggression.
That sounds familiar.
Trump is a rotund imitation of Biden. Like almost all western politicians, he is a mile wide and an inch deep when it comes to global politics, history, demographics, … you name it.
Unless something unusual happens in a country that suffered over twenty million deaths the last time Russia faced an existential threat, Trump's bluster won't get out of the end zone. Just another own goal. Westerners are dead drunk on their own mentally masturbatory fantasies of superiority.
I know you know all this, but I have to register my reactions to his initial appointments.
If no NATO, Putin will come back for more land and control as usual.
He violated the Budapest Agreement and both Minsk agreements so why should he abide by any other agreement when his final goal is to take all of Ukraine? Remember when he said, Ukraine is historically part of Russia. Hmm.
He took Chechnya land, then Georgia, then Crimea, and now Ukraine and eventually Transnistria and more parts of Moldova. If allowed, he will also take Armenia.
But of course, Russia doesn't invade neighbors.
The Baltics are still Baltics because they joined NATO.
Putin cannot be trusted.
The EU concluded formally that Georgia initiated the war with Russia: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/georgia-started-war-with-russia-eu-backed-report-idUSTRE58T4MO/
Ukraine was historically part of Russia… except for the some parts in the west that were historically part of Poland, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of Moldavia, of Hungary. You can argue whether or not that it should continue to be a part of Russia, in its current incarnation of rabidly nationalist politicized eastern Ruthenians, but having a name that means "borderlands" of the Rus is not exactly helpful to your broader point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine
Do you know NATO countries aren't obligated to come to the defense of other NATO countries? You must be crazy to think countries will risk nuclear war over a Baltic country member. The Baltics are still the Baltics for reasons other than NATO.
You are ALMOST a bigger liar than Tim Burns.
Which is like saying the Sombrero galaxy is almost bigger than the Andromeda galaxy.
Still f**king huge.
LMC is obviously the biggest galaxy
poutin is a disgusting human being
he is of the country that has abandonded us to the nazis and then enslaves us for 50 years after
THEY WERE RIGHT ACROSS THE RIVER AND THEY JUST STOOD THERE
bloody good for nothing
"If no NATO, Putin will come back for more land….He violated-"
All during US-driven expansion of NATO east;
an expansion that – for decades – US and western diplomats, officials, and politicians – many of them hardcore Cold Warriors – correctly predicted:
a/ would strengthen Russian ultranationalists – thereby undermining a post-Cold War peace, and the democratization of Russia; and
b/ would eventually result in a Russian reaction.
Shambling Igors like you helped "Master" Frankenstein assemble Putin – once Time Magazine's man of the year – into the authoritarian criminal he is.
No one cares what Zelensky wants. Period. End of story.
There will be no negotiations between Zelensky and Putin. Putin has already said that in so many words. Putin will only negotiate with the US and only over the treaty proposals from December, 2021. Otherwise he takes Ukraine and presents the West with a fait accompli.
Does P4L Zelenskiyy want NATO protection, or NATO membership ? Kind of a difference there.
It SOUNDS like what he wants is some sort of guarantee that NATO would intervene for Ukraine against the Russian Federation if Kiev provoked the RF again in a few years BUT without Ukraine in any way obliged to assist other NATO members OR spend that magickal 2% GDP tithe for the (dubious) honor. Just 'protection'.
But if he wants membership, that's already a Hard No for the RF
And they'll ask the US for a loan (the forgivable kind) to pay the 2%.
An absurd plan which merely delays the conflict until the West has funneled thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Voldemort Zelensky is grasping at straws. Russians will Never Again trust the West and will never agree to a freeze which allows Ukraine to join NATO ever and allows Western troops into Ukraine as "Peacekeepers".
Russia has been repeatedly stabbed in the back in treaty after treaty, not to mention Minsk 1 and 2, along with the signed peace treaty from March of 2022.
Add to this; Voldemort Zelensky is no longer the elected leader of Ukraine and has NO legal authority to sign anything.
pretty sure zelenskyy is still the elected leader over there
Not if the Ukrainians could vote.
they still like him
Latest polls show about 1 in 6 would vote for Zelensky, therefore Ukrainians some like him. Most are tired of the little clown.
who were the polls conducted by?
Ah i’m sorry.. “who were the polls conducted by?” is such a tired trope to question obviously real poll numbers
but who did conduct the poll?
You should pay attention. His term was up this past year, and he is now an unelected illegal dictator in Ukraine.
I agree mostly. But the peace treaty was an initialed draft. There was a lot of negotiating to do over the particulars.
Alastair Crooke
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/12/02/long-war-reaffirm-western-and-israeli-primacy-undergoes-shape-shift/
Putin has warned: ‘If you strike again in Russia, we will respond with an Oreshnik hit on a military facility in another nation. We will provide warning so that civilians can evacuate. There is nothing that you can do to prevent this; you do not have an anti-missile system that can stop an attack coming in at Mach 10’.
Is the late Ukraine McCain smiling or rolling over in his grave? Perhaps both.
If my recollections are accurate, he frequently grinned during Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2008 Munich Security Conference speech.
Russia: the lone gas station and higher scientific education incubator in the wilderness.
He us absurd, But so is everybody else NATO countries support lately. In Georgia, we side with a French born president of the country with limited powers, at present agitating all EU- paid rent a crowd, and now callung for schools to cone out to protest. Hoping that a childreb will be killed to start a serious problem. And why? To claim how the ruling party thst won big time — did nit win fair? So, let us oust kegitimate government and plant our puppets. In Moldova, an outrageously crooked election was declared success! How come? We love our ouppet the incumbent, and let her cheat by eliminating over half a million diaspora votes, as only those diaspora viotes that were in her favor were collected. As we speak in TmRomania, an unexpected lead by an undesirable candidate is not. desirable. What will be the outcome? Perhaps banning him and his party. Like in Moldova. Like what is planned in Germany shoud AfD party show more strength in early elections. Nowdays, everything is in the open — genocide, regime change, ekections righing., no pretenses.
In the interview with Sky News, Zelensky said Ukraine wouldn’t agree to a ceasefire without guarantees of NATO protection. “We need [NATO protection] very much, otherwise [Putin] will come back. Otherwise, how are we going to go to a ceasefire? So for us, it’s very dangerous,” he said.
Since the Russians consider the Ukrainian government and military hierarchy to be led by Zionists and Nazis–a seemingly odd pairing if this was 1940-1945–the present and future NATO protection racket is existentially unrealistic.
The Russians aren't expecting Kyiv to vouchsafe names and addresses of Kraken, Right Sector, Azov battalion members, et al.
It's less than six feet, Volodymyr.