Washington has allegedly pressured Kiev to cede territory to Moscow, yet Vladimir Zelensky has thus far rejected such concessions
The Wall Street Journal has reported that US negotiators have “seemed reluctant to compromise” with their Ukrainian counterparts regarding the peace roadmap put forward by President Donald Trump.
In a Sunday article, the media outlet cited an unnamed source who characterized the day’s talks between Washington and Kiev representatives in Berlin as “tough.” The publication stated that the negotiations have devolved into a “battle of wills,” with the US “urging for swift decisions,” aiming to conclude the Ukraine conflict by year-end.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the core point of dispute is the matter of territorial concessions, indicating that Kiev has turned down Washington’s request to withdraw its troops from areas of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic that Ukraine still holds.
The Donbass region became an integral part of Russia after a referendum in 2022.
On Monday, Reuters, citing an unnamed US official, reported that Washington is willing to offer Kiev security guarantees based on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense commitment, but only “if a conclusion is reached in a favorable manner.”
After talks on Monday in the German capital between President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and the Ukrainian delegation, Vladimir Zelensky emphasized that the “question of concessions is definitely off the table.”
However, Zelensky recently did acknowledge that Ukraine might hold a referendum on potential territorial concessions.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov underscored that Donbass is sovereign Russian territory and that Moscow will gain control over the entire region, by one means or another.