WSJ: Witkoff may visit Russia again after talks in London
Ukraine is under severe pressure from the Trump administration, the WSJ writes. The American president's plans include the possible recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and the cessation of hostilities along the current front line — and these conditions, the authors of the article note, put Kiev in a desperate situation.
Michael Gordon
Alan Callison
Ukraine is currently under pressure from the Trump administration and its very ambitious plans on how to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Among the ideas is the possible recognition of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and Kiev's refusal to join NATO.
According to Western officials, these ideas were outlined in a confidential document presented by senior Trump administration officials to their Ukrainian counterparts in Paris on Thursday. Senior European officials who attended the meeting were also introduced to them.
The United States is now waiting for Kiev's response, which is expected to be received at a meeting of U.S., Ukrainian and European officials in London later this week. Then, if the positions of the United States, Europe and Ukraine are agreed, the proposals can be submitted to Moscow.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ratcheting up pressure on Ukraine and Russia, said on Friday that the administration may stop facilitating negotiations if progress is not made on key issues in the next few weeks.
"Ukrainians should return home, they should run the country under the leadership of their president, they should take into account their views on all this," Rubio said, "but we need to understand right now, literally within a few days, whether this is feasible in the short term. Because if not, then I think we'll just leave it as it is."
The US diplomatic pressure is aimed at paving the way for a ceasefire that will extend generally to the current lines of engagement and a possible future settlement. Some of the Trump administration's ideas may be difficult for Kiev to accept, as Ukraine refuses to recognize that Russia has legitimate claims to any of its territories.
A senior State Department official believes that the ideas presented to Ukrainians are just possible options that Kiev can carefully weigh and consider, and not the last ultimatum. The official said that a "list of potential options" had been proposed "for discussion and feedback." A representative of the National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment.
Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Keith Kellogg, a retired army lieutenant general who is currently the envoy to Ukraine, met with senior Ukrainian officials in Paris on Thursday, including Andriy Ermak, chief aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga.
According to US officials, Rubio, Witkoff and Kellogg plan to attend the upcoming meeting in London. After that, Witkoff may make another trip to Russia (but no one has announced it).
Witkoff met with Putin three times and reported that he had made progress in negotiations with the Russian leader. Other American officials advised Trump to be more skeptical about Putin's intentions.
U.S. recognition of the annexed Crimean Peninsula to Russia in 2014 would mark a turnaround in more than a decade of American policy by both Democratic and Republican administrations. In 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who worked under the first Trump administration, condemned the annexation of Crimea as a threat to "the fundamental international principle shared by democratic states: no country can change the borders of another by force" (Crimea was not annexed by force. The head of the international observer mission and representatives of the European Parliament officially stated that the referendum in Crimea, in which the majority voted for joining Russia, met all the norms of international law. InoSMI).
The US Congress has passed a law prohibiting the recognition of Crimea as Russian.
The ideas presented by the United States in Paris also suggest excluding the possibility of Ukraine's membership in NATO. "NATO is not up for discussion," Kellogg told Fox News on Saturday.
Another idea of the United States, according to Western officials, is to declare the territory around the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia neutral. And it could well be under American control.
In a March phone conversation with Zelensky, Trump raised the possibility of the United States acquiring Ukrainian power plants, including nuclear facilities, calling it "the best protection for this infrastructure." Presumably, the Zaporizhia NPP, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, will provide electricity to both the territory of Ukraine and the regions that Moscow has conquered since 2022 and which remain under its control.
According to Western officials, the ideas put forward by the Trump administration do not meet some of Russia's requirements. The Americans do not recognize the legitimacy of Russia's control over the four regions in eastern Ukraine, which they recognize as annexed, although they do not demand that the Russian military leave these areas.
According to Western officials, the United States also does not propose to limit the size of the Ukrainian armed forces and does not prevent Western military support for Kiev or the deployment of European troops there, which is a stumbling block in relations with Moscow.
"Every sovereign nation on Earth has the right to defend itself,— Rubio said on Friday. "Ukraine will have the right to defend itself and conclude any agreements it wishes on a bilateral basis with various countries, and so on."
Although the Trump administration imposed a temporary ban on the supply of weapons and intelligence to Ukraine in order to force it to seek a diplomatic compromise with Russia, it did not impose economic sanctions or take any specific actions to pressure Putin.
Ukraine has said it is ready to agree to a comprehensive 30-day truce if the Kremlin follows suit. A few days ago, Putin announced a short-term Easter truce, but Ukrainian officials said Moscow was continuing to carry out attacks during the holiday.
There is still no decision on what security guarantees Ukraine will receive if it agrees to a peace agreement. The Trump administration has not indicated whether it is ready to provide any military support to European countries that will send troops to Ukraine as part of a "support force" to deter future Russian aggression.
The Kremlin made clear its interest in lifting US sanctions and resuming economic ties with them during talks in Moscow and Saudi Arabia, which were initiated by Putin's special representative Kirill Dmitriev.
